


He Calls Himself a Peacemaker

by frozennightmare



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: AU, Multi, UA, Universe Alteration, depressing fic, don't say I didnt warn ya, early regeneration, season 5-7 rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-23
Updated: 2013-10-06
Packaged: 2017-11-27 00:08:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/655890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozennightmare/pseuds/frozennightmare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She finally found her way back to him, but Rose was too late to stop Ten from regenerating when he was shot by the Dalek. Her Doctor is gone, replaced by another man, but she's still not sure she can leave him...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Lonely Descision

**Author's Note:**

>  I hope you guys like it.....been a bit of a side project, but the idea kind of grabbed me rather aggressively and forced me to work on it.   
> Chapter 1 Playlist: Thistle and Weeds- Mumford and Sons

 

 

 

A Lonely Decision  

  
_-and I'm on my knees, and the water creeps to my chest_ -

 

"No- I came all this way-" _Not now, you can't leave me now, not after all this-_

Sometimes-hell, all the time- he really hates the fact that he can read thoughts.

"I'm so sorry." he manages to crack. Always saying that, isn't he? 

So sorry.

So very, very sorry.

He can feel himself slipping away, the last moments before the end. He hates this, dying. The light blinding everything but what is right before him, and the last bit of what he is- who he was- becoming like a bad dream, a thing that never happened. 

He closes his eyes on her. He wants her to be the last thing this body sees.

And then...he falls away.

.......

Fire.

Fire and light- and oh, what is this? 

The floor lurches out of nowhere, and the Doctor lunges forward like a newborn faun, stumbling on legs too long. Oh! Can't hit the floor, that would look bad. 

His lungs are screaming. What is that thing that humans do next? Oh, right. They breathe.

"AHHHHH! Legs! Still got legs! And fingers, ooh, lots of fingers. Eyes, nose, not bad, been worse. Chin-blimey! Am I girl? No! _No_! And still not ginger! There's something else, something I'm forgetting, something important- oh, that's right, Davros! GERONIMO!"

He spins like a happy five year old, practically dancing around the console- or at least he tries. Instead he stumbles on his new legs and nearly falls on his face again before catching himself on one of the coral structures. 

Then he sees her.

Rose has stepped forward just out of the reach of Jack and Donna and frozen there, just...horrified, he supposes. If horrified is the word. Unsure is probably better. 

The TARDIS lurches. "Looks like we've landed. And still in one piece, too, oh I am surprised. Saving the world, shall we! Hello, Davros!" He makes for the door.

"So- so we're leaving?" asks Donna.

"Well, no point staying here, we'll just get forced out anyways!"

"Doctor-" and Jack seems to stumble over the word- "we're just as likely to die out there."

"Exactly, Jack!" He unlocks the door flagrantly and turns at the still-frozen Rose to reach out a hand. "Come along, Tyler."

She doesn't move.

"He's gone." she says, talking to herself. "You were too late, now get your ass in gear and save the bleedin' universe."

  
_Say goodbye_.

Why does she have to think so loud?

He opens his mouth to say something, but realizes he has no idea what to say. He doesn't know himself yet, how can he? But he can't just leave her hanging. "Rose." he says. "Rose, it's still me, I'm still here, I'm still the Doctor. C'mon, we've done this before, haven't we, do I have to prove this to you again?" He puts a weak little smile on his face as he thinks of a quick way to prove it. "Barcelona?"

She seems to steel herself, puts on a face,and reaches out to take his hand. "As soon as we save the universe, yeah?"

He does his best to reassure with what he hopes is a reassuring-type smile. "Geronimo."  That word again. He likes it, it feels very..right.

He turns and drags her out with them, the dark blue doors slamming behind them. 

He's so, so very lucky. No idea who he is yet, so he can get away with _anything_. And anything is _exactly_  what he does.

"Hello Daleks!" Ooh. Practically screaming. He still has to get used to this voice.

"You are not the Doctor?"

"No I'm not. Well, yes I am. Trouble is, I don't know. I've changed; I do that, you should know that by now. But enough about me, what about you? All these planets, what are you doing with them? Obviously something very big, very important."

"It is not of your concern! You must only die!"

"Die? Oh, no. I don't think you understand. Whatever it is, I intend to stop you."

"What do you have against us?"

"Well, I'll tell you what I don't have. Look at me, no superpowers, no TARDIS, no backup- well, maybe- no weapons worth a damn. But I don't have a thing to lose! Remember that!"

"You are connected to the TARDIS?"

"Yes. Yes, of course."

"Then you do have something to lose. Feel it die."

One of the larger trashcans moves to flip a lever, but Jack throws himself across the console. The Dalek fires before it thought, exploding the console underneath Jack's body.

"JACK!" screams Donna and Rose simultaneously. The Doctor reaches out to take Rose's hand, but she rips it away.

"Take them to the holding cell! They are the playthings of Davros now."

"Doctor?" says Donna, nervously. "Jack?"

"Sorry, Donna, but there's nothing we can do."

The transmat flickers, and he lands hard, still not used to the legs he's got. He reaches up to grab something but instead his hand lands on the side of their prisons of light, and he bounces back. 

"Doctor."

He recognizes the voice of that creature, the creator of the Daleks. He had seen him destroyed once, and now he stand there, well, sits, but that's irrelevant. So many impossibilities, so many things happening here, that he's just stopped asking why.

"Oh, hello Davros. Been a long time, you're thinner, have you lost weight? Well, of course you would, giving up your own flesh to create these Daleks. What are they doing, why are they keeping you down here, you're  weak, it's not their style- _oh_."

He slumps forward against the wall of light, coughing, a thin stream of gold falling from his lips. "I'm just getting started, I'm not done cooking." he murmurs to himself. Of course.

"Look at him." laughs Davros, if the beast can laugh, directing his attention to Rose. "You crossed thousands of worlds for him, and this is what you get, a madman with a box. He's not even your madman anymore. Was it worth it?"

"Davros, you leave her alone." the Doctor says, still regaining his breath.

Rose stares Davros down, seeming for all things slightly dead to the world, but still so full of fire that it scorches the room. "It's always worth it." she says, with such finality that the Doctor knows if he ever tries to bring it up he too will burn.

"No, Doctor." Davros is nearly gleeful in his victory. "She is mine, and I will do as I please."

"Then tell me why I'm still breathing, yeah?" 

"It was foretold, and I shall not contradict the prophecies, as will no one else."

"Foretold? What do you mean, "foretold"? Daleks don't like prophecies, they never have, it has to be very well proven for them to even consider it!"

A light flickers on across the room, and they recoil in horror at the beast of melted flesh resting on the plinth.

"What the hell is that thing?" gasps Rose.

"Dalek Caan! Well, it used to be. Flew into the Time War without a single shield, got its mind blown to bits. You're honestly listening to that thing?"

"It speaks nothing but the truth,Doctor."

"And it is coming," babbles the thing, "the madman in the box and his drifting beloved and the steadfast friend, the three at end of all things, the three that are always at the end of all things, and the madman's soul shall be revealed and their vision shattered, and one must make a choice that will break her heart-"

"He's insane!" says Donna. "Completely bonkers!"

"You're just getting this now?" mutters Rose.

The short, static buzz of an intercom at Davros's ear, and he swivels to stare with his one glowing eye before saying something about putting a transition through. A screen ripples into the air, and the Doctor's heart fills with both hope and fear.

"Martha! What are you doing?"

"Doctor, I'm sorry, I don't- hold up. Donna! Who's with you, where's the Doctor?"

"That's him, that's the Doctor. He..he went and changed on us."

"Martha, why are you _sorry_? Where are you? Don't hold up, tell me now!"

"I'm in Germany, Doctor, and I'm under authorization to use the Oster-Haagen key."

"What's that? Doesn't sound pretty, whatever it is."

"There's a set of nuclear missiles placed in strategic points under the Earth's crust. I use the key, the Earth goes up. Now I reckon you Daleks need these twenty-seven planets for a reason, but what if turns into twenty-six? What then?"

"Martha, no,no no no no no, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, you can't do that!"

A second window fizzles and slides into place beside the first. "This is Captain Jack Harkness, calling all Daleks boys and girls, are you receiving me? Don't get close or we'll all go up!"

"Jack? He's alive?" says Rose.

"Oh, I knew it!" 

"Jack! Oh good, another warm body. What's your plan, it had better be more intelligent than Martha's."

"I've got a warp star hooked into the mainframe. One button, this whole ship goes in flames. Release the Doctor."

" _No_. Jack! Where'd you get a- oh never mind, that's irrelevant. What makes you think that blowing this place, blowing the Earth, whatever it is, is a good idea? The Daleks won't release me,  they won't care, they'll just find another ship, another planet. No, if I'm going to win, and I will, I'm going to have to be clever."

"Mum?" says Rose, wide-eyed, recognizing one of Jack's companions. "Mum, no, you shouldn't be here, I told you not to!"

"Sorry, but I couldn't leave you on your own."

"I'll do it!" says Jack. "Don't think for a second I won't."

"Same for me." adds Martha.

"Do you see now, dear one?" creaks Davros with delightful attention focused on Rose. "He calls himself a peacemaker, yet he is the greatest warrior of us all, for this is what he does, makes people into weapons willing to die in his name. Even you, crossing a thousand universes, not even sure of what you would find, are a warrior under his care. And you, Noble, so doubting of yourself,until you met _him_ , and you lost your own life once already to save the world for him. Look at them, Doctor, look at your soldiers, and think of all those who continue to die in your name. This is my victory, Doctor, to force you to see yourself- the man who will never look at his past out of shame for what he might see."

And yet this new Doctor seems unfazed, and while Davros's words obviously affect him, they bounce off his shell as if thrown by a storm. The Doctor is a force of nature now, gaining momentum and completely unstoppable.

"This ship, these planets, it must have taken years of planning, snatching planets out of time as well of space. So whatever it is, it's huge, massively huge, so huge that I bet, _I bet_ , you were going to tell me. Don't. I want to figure it out for myself."

"Do as you wish, Doctor. I am rather...enjoying this."

"Twenty-seven planets, and you only invade Earth? You want the humans, you're just capturing humans, probably to test something? Why humans? Well, out of these twenty-seven worlds, only ten are inhabited. Nine of those ten are inhabited by some of the universe's odder species, while humanoids are the base format for nearly half the known life in the universe. Whatever it is, you want to make sure it works on as many species as possible. Daleks are supremacists at their core, the worst of the worst, and they want to get rid of everyone else. This vessel is covered in some of the best extrapolater shielding I've ever seen, better than my TARDIS, it'll protect you from nearly anything. You're hiding! Back to the planets, the arrangement, that's important, it looks familiar, where have I seen it before? Oh! I know, it's an _engine_! You're moving the planets like the great engine of something, hiding in your little bomb shelter, and you're going to- oh! Stupid, stupid, stupid Doctor. The kind of energy that'll generate-it'd be enough to dissolve the electrical bonds in nearly anything, you could destroy the universe itself. You're going to blow everything up, and I just figured it out in under two minutes without a single hint. Rose Tyler, have I impressed you yet?"

If they weren't in so much danger, she'd be smiling. He knows her well enough to know that with absolute certainty. 

"Your intelligence is simply an amusement to me, Doctor."

"Hold up, hold up, 'cause I'm not finished. Donna, time me, I bet I can figure this one out in under five. Keeping Dalek Caan, attempting to destroy the TARDIS, letting Jack and Martha stay where they are and do what they're doing, you're trying to make an effect, appeal to my emotions, and it very nearly worked. Except!-except, it would have worked, would have slowed me down, if I was still old me. Old me let it get to him a lot easier than me, but look at me now. It's not really doing the same thing, is it? Maybe it's because I'm a psychopath, maybe it's because I just regenearated, who bloody knows. It didn't work, I'm on top of my game, and that means I can see everything, and I've seen your mistake."

"My creations make no mistakes."

"Yes they do, every good villain has a fatal flaw. Jack, have you been paying attention?" 

"Every word."

"Then you know what to do."

Jack starts ripping wires from the warp star and rewards them into his vortex manipulator so fast it's nearly impossible to see his fingers fly.

"This is enough of their foolishness. Activate the transmat beam!" orders Davros. Martha shimmers out of the room and onto the cell floor, but Jack doesn't budge.

"WHAT IS THIS? EXX-PLAIIN!"

"Disabled the transmat beam." says Jack. "We aren't going anywhere!" He keeps hitting buttons, changing things. 

"What's he doing?" asks Rose.

"Time." mutters the Doctor.

"Three minutes, forty second, _timeboy._ " says Donna.

"Jack said he hooked into the mainframe, he's got complete computer control- well, most of it. These planets work like an engine, get them spinning the right way and they'll destroy the universe. But if you reverse the direction of the planets and use the warp star's power to change the center point, the focus of the beam will be reversed to right where we're standing."

"Won't that just kill us?"

"No, because every computer of that size has a failsafe. Rather than allow it to fire on itself, it'll shut the whole system down and force maintenance checks before it goes back up and running."

"Annnddd....time." announces Donna.

"Jack?" 

"Everything's ready, Doctor!"

All around them, the Daleks start to panic.

"MAIN COMPUTER SHUTDOWN, EXXX-PLAINN, EXPLAINNNN!"

"REALITY BOMB NOT FUNCTIONING!"

"REACTOR METLDOWN!"

Even the closest Daleks abandoned their posts as guards and circled upstairs, trying to solve the problem.

"Eight minutes to save the universe with no TARDIS, no screwdriver, and an unfinished body, and _I just did it_. Who da' man?"

"Never say that again." says Sarah Jane.

"Ever." adds Martha. 

"Ok then."

"Turning off the cells now!"  says Jack. "Is the TARDIS still in the main room?" 

"Should be, don't think they've moved it yet."

"Fantastic, transmitting it down there!"

"Good, now come join us, cause we don't want you lot dead!" says Donna.

"Yeah, just finishing disabling this, then one last thing...." 

The Daleks stop panicking and stop still, an eerie silence filing the room. Then the metal casing bubbles like wax, and they start to pop like popcorn, showering fried bits over them all.

"JACK!" roars the Doctor.

"Raised the internal temperature in their little machines, they'll boil in minutes. Doctor, if you're so smart now, give me one good reason why an empire this size should be allowed here."

"You can't do that!"

"Can I? Coming your way now."

Jack and crew shimmer to place beside them, and Rose rushes to hug her mother. The Doctor stares Jack down rather ferociously. 

"Get in the TARDIS! Now!" 

It's not so much an order as a we-better-all-do-it-or-we'll-go-up-with-this-ship type thing. A crash of a falling beam, the slam of the ancient blue doors, the pained scream of the engines, and the box falls away like a fading ghost.

Once they're safely in orbit over the Earth, the Doctor stops his frenzied dance to yell at Jack. "What do you think you were doing? That was genocide!"

"I didn't like it anymore than the next person, but it was necessary."

"Necessary? It's never necessary!"

"Then tell me what else we would have done."

Neither of them seems to be able to take it any farther, so Sarah Jane takes the opportunity to speak. "What's gonna happen to all the other planets?"

"Now that the ship's destroyed, they'll go home automatically. Built-in safety to help the Daleks escape if there was a problem."

"So back to Earth, then?"

"Yep!"

They land in Hyde Park, and Sarah Jane, Mickey, Martha and Jack all say their goodbyes. The Doctor doesn't announce their next destination, but just sends them careening off. 

And then there's a beach, and her father is there waiting, and while Jackie rushes to greet him Rose can't help but freeze....

"Why?" she asks, her throat tight.

The Doctor slips up so close behind her she can nearly feel his breath on her neck. "I'm not who you came for, Rose, I'm so sorry.  This is better, I think. You'll be happier with your family."

Maybe she's imagining it, but it sounds forced. Why can he never say what's actually on his mind?

"Rose, aren't you coming?" asks her mother, and it hits her.

This is it, then.

This is her choice. 

"I won't stop you if you want to come." he says. "But I want you to be happy."

She steps away, fighting a hundred year's worth of tears. How can she choose?

Why is she even assuming there's a choice? Her Doctor is gone. Why not just stay here?

And yet-

And yet everything he said, everything he was, and while the Doctor doesn't try to show it, she can see the message projected so terribly clear-

_Choose._

"Mum, I'm sorry." she chokes out. "I love you, but...I'm staying with him."

"Are you sure?" he asks, and the look on his face confirms her choice. 

She doesn't have the strength to speak, just nod, and hugs her mother goodbye one last time before turning to take his hand.

One last beach, one last goodbye, and he is so _shocked_ that she would _want_ to stay with him-

Her only wish is that she doesn't live to regret this.

Yet somehow she knows she both always and never will.

 

 


	2. Ood Vision : Part 1/2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sparing your hiatus (and my sanity) by cutting this chapter into two. sorry about the wait.

 

_"No, you can't leave me! Not now, not after everything, please! Please."_

  
_Screaming, desperate screaming echoing through every corner of his mind, begging for another chance, anything_ -

He flies awake, head snapping against the back of the wall painfully. It was the stuff of nightmares, nothing more.

But nightmares are so much more terrifying when they actually happened.

He throws the mass of blankets off him, sitting there with his heart racing like a mouse on caffeine. The cheap alarm clock is glowing green at four fifteen am, just in that area where it's begun to qualify as morning but not close yet to dawn. This isn't his usual room, isn't his usual bed, instead just a stored room that he can't remember who it ever belonged to. All these times he's changed and he's always stayed in the same room, but this time it was wrong, this time the one across the hall has been occupied for the first time in three years, and there's a cold space in his bed where she should be. This isn't how it should be at all. He should be able to sleep, not be haunted by recent history; he shouldn't feel so cold and lonely when the only person he ever wanted is literally fifty feet down the hall. 

But then again, what should be and what is are never the same thing.

What's the point of sleep, he's hungry and recovering and needs a new outfit other than the torn remains of his trenchcoat. Superior TimeLord biology can only hold up so far, he can't neglect himself completely. 

So after a round of tea-which takes longer than it should have, his preferences having changed again- he ends up in the wardrobe at four forty-five, playing with every combination of coats and ties and shirts he can find just because he needs something to do.

....

"Do you have any idea where we're going?"

Donna sets down her cup of tea next to Rose, who rubs her eyes in exhaustion. She suspects Rose didn't get much sleep last night.

"Donna, when do we ever know?"

"Good point."

She pauses. 

"You all right, mate?"

"All right as I'll ever be."

The phone rings suddenly, and Donna jumps to grab it, but a flurry of tweed and tan gets there first. 

Oh my God he's got a _bowtie_.

Rose is snickering behind her, a little life returning to her eyes.

"Oi, you shut up about my fashion choices!" There's a tiny bit of smile hiding behind him as well. Maybe there is hope for them.

The Doctor turns his attention back to the phone. "Hello?"

No words come out of the other end. 

"Well, that's odd..." he muses.

Rose drops her tea. "Doctor, look!"

A pale, transparent Ood has materialized among them, there but not there. The Doctor lowers the phone slowly. "What do you want?" he asks.

_Come to us._

And then the ghost is gone.

"What was _that_?" asks Donna.

"A psychic message! Sort of. More like a psychic broadcast, like a radio signal, they used the phone to tune into out frequency then sent out their message. That's weird, that's really weird, they shouldn't be able to do that yet."

"Wait. Are we going back to-"

"Donna Noble, get your coat! Rose, you might want one, it's about to get very, very cold."

Donna comes back about two seconds later in more layers than a polar bear, carrying a fuchsia parka under one insulated arms that has to be for Rose. 

"I thought the Ood were our enemies?" asks Rose curiously as she puts her coat on. "Last time, they tried to kill us!"

"Only because they were possessed, don't forget that. Now, the Ood aren't slaves anymore, they've gotten themselves their own civilization."

"And good on them too, eh?" announces Donna. The Doctor throws the lever on the console and off they go into time and space and everything.

The first thing that greets them when they step outside is a piercing, brilliant cold and the crystalline blindness of sun against snow. A wind blows up, sharp as glass in the cold, and Rose is very, very grateful for her coat. As soon as her eyes adjust to the glare, she can make out a dark-suited Ood waiting for them.

"Epsilon! Great to see you again. I've got a different face now, but it's still me, can't you tell? Still the Doctor!" 

Epsilon nods. "We can always tell it is you no matter what your face. You are very...exuberant."

Donna elbows Rose, although she can hardly feel it under that heavy coat. "They got that right." she jests.

"Why have you called me here?" inquires the Doctor. "Reaching across the stars like that, that's way too advanced for you already, you reached into the TARDIS itself, which, for your information, I had parked in a very comfortable spot orbiting Earth in 1865!"

"We have accomplished much in the past one hundred years."

"One hundred years! That's wrong, that's very, very wrong. But enough chat, why am I here?"

"Every night, Doctor, the Ood have bad dreams."

"Show me."

 

The Ood civilization is wonderful, even if it is wrong. Rose isn't scared of them at all anymore, in fact they're kind of...cool.

In the deepest, darkest catacomb, the only light being that of the sacred fire, are the dreamers and prophets of the Ood. They are the circle, and now they are strong. 

Epsilon is not one of the circle; he's only a herald. He watches though, as the hands of the circles Ood part to let the three travelers in, then turns to leave. The world is a strange place, even stranger with those three in it.

Rose warily takes the hand of the closest Ood and closes her eyes, letting the visions touch her. She only gets flashes, a laughing man and a strange orange planet, but the Doctor sees it all. 

"He's dead. I burned him myself."

_He is returning, and it is returning, and she is returning, all returning, in the quiet and the dark, the wife and the warrior and the world._

"Doctor, what are they talking about?" Rose asks.

"The Master. But he's dead."

"Apparently not, dull one." says Donna.

Rose closes her eyes again and plunges back in, getting even more images. A woman in white with gravity defying hair, a firebrand of light and color, something so very very wrong with it too. Voices and a hand she can't catch, glimmers and flashes like a leaping fish, a barmaid who isn't a barmaid and a girl who waited far too long-

  
_Stay with me_.

Rose reels back, pushing away from any Ood contact, trying to ignore the voice in her head, because she knows it. It's the Doctor, just a few words, but it's different. The new Doctor with that tone of voice she's heard before on her old, in the twilight hours when he's sleepy and vulnerable.  It shouldn't bother her, but it does. There are people she doesn't recognize in her head, people and a voice that terrifies her. The Doctor doesn't notice her recoil, he and Donna are still immersed.

"I need some air." she mutters, although no one hears, and wanders out of the catacombs and onto the icy surface.

"Rose?" 

Someone had noticed. She hadn't expected-

"What's wrong?"

There's a man with a bowtie asking her questions, and snowflakes settling in her lungs, and she feels very much like a piece of ice: cold, empty, and melting very fast. 

"I-"

Rose needs something to hold on to, to stop the cold from catching, to keep her in one piece. That something doesn't exist. If she cries, will it freeze before he can see? The last thing she wants to do is hurt the Doctor any more.

_You made your choice._

And of course she did, and she'll never go back on it, not ever, because at the end of all things, they're the only things left. The Doctor and his Rose, or vice versa, whatever you prefer, they belong together, whether as friends or lovers or whatever the hell they are anymore. 

The stuff of legend.

"Don't blame you for wanting to get out of there, the Ood are stuffy old things now. Did you see though, their brains! Out in the open. Like they're nude. Nude Ood, try saying that five times fast."

Rose smiles a tiny bit, she can't help herself. He's not half bad, this Doctor.

"Should I leave you here by yourself?" he asks.

"Actually, you're fine."

She doesn't know what she saw. The Ood are so confusing these days, prophecies and all. Give her some good old possessed Ood any day, Rose'll be happy. 

But that's the future, and while being a time traveler means you can know the future, sometimes it means you can't know any more than anyone else.

No, the future will never be right, that's for certain.

But that's ok.


	3. Falling (part 2 of 2)

 

"Donna! Thank goodness you're here. I was starting to get worried, after all those planets in the sky, but I knew you were gonna be alright, you're with the Doctor!"

Wilf throws his arms around his granddaughter. "Rose, it's nice to see you again too. Do you remember me?"

"How could I forget?"

"Where's the Doctor?"

"Coming!" He pops out of the TARDIS in a bound. Rose is still trying to pin down the imagery. "Hello Wilf, nice to see you again! Come on then, tell me about these dreams."

Wilf looks back at Donna, then at Rose. They both and nod him on. 

"So...do we stick around here and watch a couple old men swap stories or do we go actually handle things ourselves?" asks Rose causally. twisting a piece of hair around one hand.

"Sometimes, it's like you don't even know me." Donna smiles devishly. "Do you have the TARDIS key?" 

Rose dangles it off one hand. "Didn't even notice. What are you plottin'?"

"Not sure yet."

Rose looks one last time to make sure the Doctor isn't paying attention, then hops the fence. "Step one: we need to get ourselves a newspaper. I dunno what's even happening on this bloody planet anymore."

Donna points down the opposite street from Rose. "That one goes into town."

"I knew that."

Rose's wallet is long empty of any acceptable earth currency, so Donna pays. They stop on a bench and Donna watches the Christmas extravaganza while Rose systematically destroys the paper.

"Does he have your mobile?" the redhead asks.

"I'm not even sure mine works anymore..." Rose is hardly paying attention.

" I could try calling you to figure it out, I've your number. Like that idiot can use a phone anyways. He's so uncoordinated, I'm starting to wonder how he even _walks_."

Rose giggles. "I know, it's like some kind of gazelle or penguin or-"

"Like a giraffe?"

"Yes, that's perfect!" Rose focuses back on her paper. "Hey, look at this." 

"Explosion at a federal prison? Sounds sketchy already."

"They haven't got a clue what caused it, no survivors. That's no federal prison, though. Too few people. An' who's this unaccounted woman? Lucy Saxon? The name sounds familiar."

"Ohh...ohh, I should know this!"

"Do you know where this is?"

"Half an hour bus ride, maybe. Not too bad."

"There we go, we'll have this split open before the Doctor is even done with his war stories!"

Rose trashes the decimated paper while Donna buys a pair of tickets. Thanks to the general disgruntled state of the paper, it takes more than a few tries to get it to stay in the trash bin.

When she looks up to join Donna, someone is staring her down, a woman in a white suit that feels out of place.

The bus takes them only a little ways from the prison, and from there it bleeds into a junkyard wasteland.

"Now, look at that." Donna says. "If you escaped from that prison, wouldn't that be the next sensible place?"

"Yeah, something' tells me we'll get farther there..good thinking Donna."

Rose tips the driver and take off into the mess of trash and metal. There seems to be nothing there, only a sea of old parts and an abandoned food stand. 

Well, at first it looks abandoned, but then Rose realizes the outsides are still steaming in the cold. The owners must be close, maybe they've seen something. The domestic approach, the Doctor calls it.

"Ello? Anybody there?"

She walks around to the front side, then screams and leaps back. Skeletons. They've been turned into skeletons, and recently too. Still warm.

"Rose? What'd you find-oh my-"

She isn't paying attention to Donna, but instead sweeping the scrapyard hills until she sees a patch of movement, a flash of black and red. It's something, and something just killed these people.

"Hey! Stay where you are!" she orders.

The figure stops, a blonde, scraggly man hidden under a black hoodie, and _hisses_ at her. For an instant she swears she can see the bones beneath his face, sneering out at her under a mask of electricity and flesh. 

"Who are you?" Rose asks.

"I am the Master!" 

She knows the name, and yeah, she's scared a good bit. But one thing jumping through a thousand realities has taught her is to never let the other hand know your fear. As soon as they know you're scared, they can use that.

"I have a friend who'd like to see you very, very much." she says sweetly. A little too sweetly, that hint of poison touching it like a leaf on water. 

"Not in a million millennia." the Master snarls. He's no idiot. Time Lords never are.

"Rose?" Donna calls from the bottom of the pile. Humans, on the other hand...

The Master sees his chance, raising his hand and sending an lightning bolt arcing towards Donna. Old instincts kick in and Rose tackles him, forcing the energy blast down and keeping Donna out of harm's way. What the hell? She's never seen a Time Lord pull shit like this before.

The Master is strong, and while she can defend herself, Rose isn't exactly a combat expert. This isn't a fight she wanted to get into, and it's not one she's sure she can win.

Doesn't mean she won't try, though.

....

"So you think this Naismith has something to do with it? Why?"

"I don't know, I just have this...feeling." 

The Doctor stares at Wilf. He's lying and they both know it, but  he also knows Wilf is right. He can feel it.

"Why did you change, Doctor?" Wilf asks, trying to change the conversation. 

"Because I was dying."

"Why would you change who you are to avoid death?"

"I can't control it. Not really. Just happens."

"We all has to die sometimes, Doctor. Even me, even you."

"Don't you dare."

Wilf laughs, but it's not much of a joke.

"Wilf. Who told you about Naismith, be honest?"

"It was this...woman. An old woman in white. She said she would get you here but she couldn't stay to tell you herself. She told me not to tell you where I got my information under any conditions."

"....okay. Hey Rose?"

There's no response, and he turns his head. Of bloody course.

The Doctor fishes in his jacket pockets. "What-they lifted my TARDIS key! I don't want to walk! Would it kill you, just once, to not wander off? Stay here, Wilf. Back in moment!"

"Doctor, maybe they're following the same lead. Can you get in the TARDIS without a key?" 

"Of course I can. That's only for Rose and Donna, the TARDIS will let me in without it. Usually. She should."

"Let's find this Naismith fellow, then, and we'll find them too."

.....

The Master shoves Rose off him and tries to run. What the hell. She'd expected him to fight back, not run away. 

"Wait!" 

He takes an impossibly huge leap, jumping from one trash island to the next, skeleton flashing again. This is wrong, this all wrong. 

"Stop, I can 'elp you!" Try the Doctor approach, then. Something obviously isn't right; maybe an offer will help.

"Can you? Can you stop the noise inside my head? The never-ending drums, going on and on, can you stop it?"

"Just let me take you to the Doctor, he can help."

"No, I want you. The Doctor wants to lock me up, he thinks I'm mad. But you're the girl who burnt like the sun, you can help! Make the drums stop! I am so hungry, so very hungry, and the drums give me no rest."

"The Doctor's right, mate. They're just inside your head."

The Master launches forward, grabbing his hands around her temples, and she can _hear_ them, pounding so steadily and never, ever ending. How? They weren't real!

"Believe me now?" he hisses. 

Rose nods, and he lets go. There's another noise building, a helicopter roaring in the sky. She can see the guns on that thing from here, so she turns and runs to where Donna is trying to catch up.

Or at least she tries to.

A spray of bullets cuts off her path, forcing her back to the searchlight that's highlighting the estatic Master. Donna leaps back at the same moment, hiding behind a pylon with terrified eyes.

Rose stops trying to run and stares up at helicopter with a lump in her throat. At the same time, she imagines she hears the road of the TARDIS engines scooping her up, but it's just wishful thinking. 

This one is all on her.

The helicopter deposits them in a manor of sorts, a place owned by an affluent family called the Naismiths. The Master is ushered into a hall full of scientists and computers, talking so rapidfire that she decides it's not worth trying to keep up. 

"Who's she?" asks the older Naimsmith. "We just wanted the Master."

"She looked important, I thought-"

" _Idiot_.Lock her up."

Cheering. Something important's happened. Rose takes her chance to shove past the Naismith man and take a look at the computers. It's all a bunch of funny symbols- but here, they're shaking and translating into English. It's alien. 

"What's that thing, the arch?" she asks commandingly. 

"It's a immortality gate. It can heal any ailment. But it wasn't working, and now-" the nearest scientist responds. 

"No it's not. This is wrong."

She may not be the Doctor, but Rose Tyler is a lot smarter than people give her credit for. Smart enough to see that the commands in the system aren't for anything even resembling a immortality gate. But she's not sure exactly what-

"I've got this." A taller man slides in and pushes her gently out of the way.

"About time you got here."

"You stole my key!"

"If I recall, you don't need it. What's he done?"

The Doctor's eyes flick back and forth between the computer screen and the Master. "You lot, get back, get out of here!"

The Master has a crooked grin on his face as he steps forward, the arch shimmering with electricity. The guards that were trying to restrain him have shied back out of fear, and are all too happy to follow the Doctor's command. 

She hears a second and third pair of footsteps- Donna and Wilf.

"Oi, timeboy, why'd you ditch us in the TARDIS?"

"Go back there, right now. Rose, you too."

She slips her hand into his. "I'm not going anywhere. You tell me what he's doin'."

"He's-he's made the gate into a radio transmitter, sort of, trying to broadcast his drums across everyone else's minds and make them louder, then come back to him so he can locate the source. Turning the human race into a satellite dish. But they're not real, its not going to work, and the force from the radiation is going to kill anyone in this manor. Only safe place would be in those technician's boxes, and they could be unstable. Require someone else to get you out anyways."

"Doctor, they're real."

"What?"

"His drums. I've heard them myself. They're real. It'll work, Donna and Wilf don't have to hide."

The Master steps into the gate with a cackle. For a moment the world seems to hold its breath, all sound stopping. 

The Doctor squeezes Rose's hand, only one word on his mind. 

"Run."

But she doesn't move, she can't. The Doctor is wrong. It isn't going to kill them.

Instead of the boom he's expecting, the sound returns to the world like a nagging flea, with a certain backdrop she's heard before. Echoing in the back of her head is an endless drumbeat. 

Inside the arch, the Master caws, his face splitting into the skeleton. The Doctor looks both disgusted and sad.

"You're a terrible thing. Born from death and all you can do is die."

"Not yet. I can hear it so much more clearly now. We will survive. Take a good look at your companion, Doctor."

He glances back to see Rose suddenly stumbling forward with a soft _oh_.

"Rose-Rose! What did you do to her?"

"Nothing. I just saw what had already been done when she let me look. Someone's been playing with her head just as they played with mine."

"A darkness is coming." Rose mumbles beneath flickering, feverish lids, head falling listlessly into his arms. "A darkness like the world has never known....a darkness and the end of time...."

"Someone's been using her as their answering machine. Now are you so sure you don't want me to do this?"

The Doctor pauses for a moment, debating it. "Just promise me no one will be hurt."

"I promise."

Rose's cell rings in her jacket. There's a moment of wild confusion as he wonders who the hell could be calling but then he realizes Donna probably has the number. 

"Hello?"

"Doctor, there's something falling out of the sky- it's like a shooting star but it's huge. I don't think it's coming anywhere near here."

"Donna, I told you to go to the TARDIS!"

"And I didn't listen!"

"I can use the network to get someone to find it." says the Master. "That's it, I know it!"

"By "get" you mean mind control?"

"Old habits die hard, Doctor!"

Whatever. He can let it go for now, they don't have much of a choice. He never thought he's be allying with the _Master_.

"I have it-ooh! I understand now!" 

Rose is faintly stirring on his lap, starting to wake up.

"Master, what is it. Tell me."

"That's how they contacted her! Oh, but you're going to try to stop me aren't you."

"Tell me."

"Whitepoint star." Rose whispers. "It's a whitepoint star."

"Byebye!" The Master waves sickeningly, then a arc of energy leaps off the arch and toward him. At the same time Rose springs up, grabs his hand, and drags him back out of harm's way.

"You alright?" he asks, hearts pumping.

"I will be. Run!"

.......

"So what is a whitepoint star? I wasn't really there all the way but when I said that you went _white_." Rose asks, playing with her fork. End of the universe, and they're eating chips. This feels like revenge of some sort. Has to be, from the way she's looking at him. He'll have to ask why later.

"It's a...gateway, a pure diamond that can rip a hole in time and space no matter what kind of timelocks are in place."

"Hold up, both of you." says Donna. "You mean he could rip a hole into _Gallifrey_?"

"That's what he's doing, I assume. And it's a very bad thing."

"But isn't that good, you're from there, right? Your people will be alive again." asks Wilf. 

"No, it's not. The TimeLords...near the end, they-they went dark. As bad as the Daleks in a way. They wanted to escape the Time War, but they couldn't. So they were going to kill themselves and take the universe with them, all of it. An elevation of sorts, in their minds. That's-that's why I had to-" 

His hand slips and the fork leaves a couple of jagged holes in the styrofoam. Donna reaches out and grabs the fork away from him, catching his hand for an instant longer. It's tiny, but it's comforting. 

Rose is looking at him warily, but no,it's not that.  There's something else...

"That settles it, the TimeLords gave him the drums. They got to me too, just differently from how they did him. Grabbed my mind when I saw _her_."

Rose only speaks of the Bad Wolf in reverence, like she's someone else.  It's moment's like these he wonders if she remembers any of it.

"I guess- I never did thank you-"

"About back there? That was nothing. Just some good reflexes and knowing how fond he is of that lightning trick."

"He's done it before?" 

"Tried to kill me with it."

The Doctor pauses as if to say something, then ignores it and moves on, slowly climbing out of his seat. 

"The whitepoint won't be ready until tonight, anyways, and there's not much we can do until then. What's with the chips, anyways? I feel like this is revenge for something. What did I do?"

Rose laughs and gets up to leave. "Do you remember the first time you regenerated, and you tried to throw me back to 2006?"

"He did that?" says Donna, shocked. 

"Uhuh. Told me he needed me to get something out of the TARDIS, then sends me off on my own. And after all that, after he's left me while he's getting himself killed at the end of the universe, do you know where I end up? In a shop, eating _chips_. So, yeah, this is revenge." 

She leans closer on the last sentence, taunting him. 

"Why, Rose, I think you've won this round. That's not a thing that happens very often."

" Of all the things we could be doing, why are we just sitting here, then?"

"I told you, the whitepoint-"

"Why can't we just stop the Master now, stop him from activating the whitepoint star anyways? Yesterday, if I recall, you defeated the Daleks with your wits and a couple of minions. That had to be some kind of record. Also some kind of record for talking fast. Is regenerating like coffee to you? Because I swear-"

"You stop that." There's a little bit of a smile playing around his face.

"If that wasn't just a hyperactive thing, let's go take care of this. If it was, I need to get you some coffee. Or are you just naturally a squirrel?"

"Squirrel? Did you just call me a squirrel?"

"Like the ones that run out in the road!"

"I'm smarter than that-"

"smarter, yes. More coordinated, no."

"-I'm not-"

"-yes, you are. Seriously, mate, how do you not break anything? And I could write a book on your fashion choices."

"You've given me a _day_."

"It's a bowtie!"

"Bowties are cool."

"You look like an attractive version of my grandfather. Were you even awake, picking out that outfit?"

"You're so transparent, you know you like it."

"I'd never admit it, even if I did."

"Oh really? I _know_.You've been looking."

"Says who?"

"I'm no idiot. What was with earlier? Collapsing into my arms again?"

"I was just lucky you were there to catch me."

" _You_ were just lucky?"

Suddenly Rose realizes how close she is to his face. Red as his bowtie, she turns and walks away. 

"Is it just me, or are we not done here?" The Doctor calls. 

Rose doesn't say a word, just keeps walking and muttering something to herself.

"Rose?"

The smile fades from his face completely. "Stupid, stupid." he mutters.

Rose is having a bit of an internal war.

_You weren't trying to-_

_It still happened._

_You liked it, admit it!_

_He's not the same._

_But you stayed to give him another chance! Why are you fighting that now?_

_You're afraid you'll love him more than you did before._

_But he's still the same man._

The Doctor drops in beside her, hands in his pockets. 

"Alright, you get your wish, let's wing this."

"Save the universe with a teakettle and a piece of string?"

"Believe it or not, I've done that before."

She looks at him so oddly, a combination of sadness and hope and grief and something else he can't identify. "You gonna be alright?"

"I'm always alright."

"Donna told me alright is just TimeLord for not alright at all."

The Doctor doesn't respond to that. He can't respond to that. Donna's right, as usual.

"So what happens if we can stop the Master?" asks Wilf.

"Knowing him, he'll try to force the entry early if we show up. The archway can only handle that for a few minutes before the radiation levels overload. A few minutes might be all he needs."

"How does he control the radiation in the arch?"

"It's those two booths, did you see? In order to put someone in you have to take someone out and vice versa, it's so there's always someone in there. They maintain it so he can start it at all, he'll have someone in there. If we can get them out and shut the thing down before he even starts, we can stop it. If we're not careful or he overworks it, the booths will flood with radiation. Containment system so only one person dies. Ready?"

"Ready." agrees Donna.

They walk outside and head for the TARDIS.

.....

"This is too easy." grumbles Wilf. "Don't you think he'll figure out we're here?"

"Oh, he knows. Just actively ignoring us." 

"Is it like a requirement for super-villains to have a massive ego?"

"Donna, that is an excellent question."

But the Master is waiting for them. He's standing in the arch room, arms spread wide, a grin the size of the universe on his face. "Just in time to meet the family!"

"It's not gonna work." cautions Rose.

"Ummm...no. You're wrong. I'll finally be free, free from the drums."

"You don't know, you don't know what the TimeLords were planning-" says the Doctor.

"Oh, but I do! And I'm okay with it. It'll get rid of my drums."

"You're nuts!" scoffs Donna.

"You're just getting that now?"

He turns around and pulls the lever on the side of the arch. It sparks into life, the whitepoint star hoisted in the middle, spinning faster and faster until the light blinds them. The Doctor stops being aware of the three other people with him and starts to focus on the five or so TimeLords appearing in the arch.

"Well done, Master." says the eldest, like one might talk to a puppy. Rassilon. Never was a pleasant man.

He recognizes the others, of course, all the elders of the president's council; Erra the Seer and Kelth the Chancellor and Delken the Parlimentmaster and oh-

Of course.

Wilf's woman in white.

Well, it would be very like Romana to try and warn him. It's safe to assume she's responsible she's responsible for Rose and the Ood. She'd have the codes to access the heart of the TARDIS, and since she couldn't contact him directly, it'd be easy to advance the Ood civilization a couple of centuries. 

Her hands are covering her face, an old TimeLord show of shame. She'd voted against this, of course. But she'd lost.

"Now, Doctor, we will advance ourselves. It's high time you joined us." Rassilon commands

"I don't think so." the Doctor says sadly. 

"How can you stop it? We will be beyond this puny plane of reality. We'll step above it. Become gods of the mind. Isn't that better? Doesn't matter what you think, anyways. Nothing left to do."

"Don't you see?" he begs the Master. "This isn't freedom. They cursed you with the drums so you'd follow the plan! You're doing exactly what he wants."

"Listen to your master." orders Rassilon. "Listen to me."

His hands are shaking. He can see the light in the Master's eyes, that string of doubt that says he'll follow the Doctor.

Question is, can he do it himself? Condemn his family to die again?

What choice does he have?

"Move." growls the Master, and steps away from the lever.

"I'm sorry." chokes the Doctor, staring straight at Romana. She nods a fraction of an inch, lowering her hands to show her eyes. 

_Do it._

He steps aside and lets the Master attack, the shock of lightning binding him to Rassilon. All it takes is a soft buzz off his sonic to disable the gate. The archway shakes dangerously, before exploding in a ring of light and dirt that sends the Doctor flying to the ground. The Master will go back, he ensured that when he attacked Rassilon. He'll get his peace, just not the way it as intended.

It'll be at the Doctor's hands instead of Rassilon's.

And somehow that works.

There must be glass covering every inch of his body, the windows are all blown out. Oh, he hurts. His lungs are burning, corrupted, but they'll heal. 

His heart will not be as easy.

"Wilf? Donna?"

"We're okay!" he hears Wilf say. Good. "Rose?"

No response.

"Rose?"

He rolls off his back and climbs to his feet.

And then he sees.

Breathe in, breathe out through those burning lungs. One hand presses up against the glass of the control booth,  and a look of terror unlike anything he's ever seen paints itself on to Rose's face.

  
_No_.

He lays his hand on the other side of the pane to meet hers.

"Nice going, Spock." she jokes weakly. 

"I suppose this is a little Wrath of Khan." Just like her to be poking fun at him even now.

"It was the technician, I wanted to get him out, thought we could keep the archway intact...that's gone to hell now. We've got a lot of radiation with nowhere to go now." Rose pauses. "What's going to happen to me?" she whispers.

"In about a minute, the seal will fail and the entire chamber will be flooded with radiation. If I open it up early-"

"Lemme guess, I die."

"Uhuh." He nods sadly.

Rose inhales deeply, clinging to her life while she still can. "It's been good, huh? I knew it couldn't last, but it's been good."

"Don't you say that."

"I'm sorry... I never got the chance to know you." 

She means to say goodbye, but it's all she can manage and maintain her dignity.

"I love you, Rose." It doesn't feel terrible, to say it now, perhaps the only advantage this new body brings. He's no longer scared to speak his mind. 

At last he finally got around to it, huh? 

Her eyes flick to floor and back at him, red and wet and three seconds from a breakdown. 

"I know."

She can't say the same, not anymore; the man she loves is dead. There is only this pale imitation in his place. He'll never come close, he knows that. The cafe was proof. 

"I love you too."

And then his heart breaks.

If there was anything he expected her to say, that wasn't it, that wouldn't ever be it, and for a few desperate moments he wonders if she's just saying it to make him feel better before she dies. But no, his Rose wouldn't do that, she'd never do that, give him false hope only to have it ripped away. She goes out of her way to avoid it, she'll lie for his happiness any day of the week. This is no lie for happiness. For once, he was wrong.

  
_Rose_.

Time's up.

Time's up and he can't let go.

A thick hand forces him back, a force he can't, doesn't want to identify, it doesn't matter, everything's gone blurry and water-stained anyways.

And then he realizes what has just happened. 

"Wilf, NO!"

There is no second to spare, there wasn't one when he had done it, but the old man has forced himself between them and inside the glass cage, throwing Rose out. 

He's saved her.

But the Doctor can't do anything more but stand there as Donna's grandfather wastes away in the chamber, no, _no_!

One last scream and it's over.

It's done.

He's dead.

Rose is still half-fallen on the ground, Donna trapped in tears of her own. He moves, or tries to, falling onto his knees somewhere along the way.

_"We all have to die sometime, Doctor."_

_"Don't you dare."_

Warmth. A warm body, throwing herself into him. His mind is processing things in the rawest of feelings now, incapable of anything else. Rose.

  
_His_ Rose.

He wraps his arms around her, one hand in her limp, dirty peroxide hair and the other at her waist, pressing a kiss into her hair without any fear at all. 

His Rose.

Safe and sound. 

He'll never forget this.

 


	4. Pond

 

 

The Doctor sits at the edge of the TARDIS, letting his legs dangle into the pit of tangled wires below. His world has become a whirl of color and sound: the blues and sobs of Wilf's funeral, the reds and golds and static of the family he's killed for the second time, the crocodile snapping of an indignant companion who's hiding her grief. The pink and yellow of a certain woman, soft footsteps echoing on the floor behind him, rubbing her still-wet hair with a towel.

"I don't think I'm ever gonna be clean." she grumbles. The Doctor smirks, flicking his legs back and forth like a child at the park who's too big for the bench. 

Rose drops down beside him and snatches on to his hand. "You okay?"

"You know that answer to that."

"What happened to Wilf wasn't your fault."

"It should have been me, I should have saved you. I've got more than one life."

"No, you shouldn't have."

He pulls out of her hand and shakes his head. Rose sighs and swivels so she's sitting a bit more precariously but can see his face. "Look," she says,"I can't have you changing on me just when I'm falling in love with you again."

He slips a hand around her waist and pulls her off her perch, closer, so her lips can meet his. She's not that much shorter than him anymore, but old habits die hard, especially when it comes to Rose Tyler. 

The intention is just to kiss her once and be done with it. It's a little hard to keep it to just that, but he's no animal, he can control himself. Never mind it's been over two years since anything of the sort.

But Rose has other ideas, ones he's willing to accept. She's hungry, deprived as he is. One turns into three or four or maybe five, eating each other up, quenching the starvation from each other.

There's a loud bang as someone slams a door closed, the flurry of footsteps on the stairs, and they jump apart like sixteen-year-olds on the front porch. 

Donna pauses. "I'll be back in ten hours. Use your time wisely." Then she flings open the TARDIS door and leaves.

Rose watches her go, then turns back to the Doctor. "Did she just tell us to get a room?"

"I think so. Do you want to-"

"I thought you'd never ask."

......

"How long was it, for you?" Rose asks, curling up beside him. There isn't a cold spot in his bed anymore. He's still not sure this isn't a dream. 

"Depends. There was a year that got erased in there. A year and a half, if we're not counting that."

"A year that got erased? How did that happen?"

"Paradox machine unraveled. The whole thing never happened."

T-minus eight hours. Eight whole hours to just themselves. He's seriously considering not moving from this spot, just lying here with only the sheets between them until they eventually fall asleep. Yeah, he could go for that.

Rose rolls over to face him, placing a finger on his lips."Shh. Save the science for later."

"If I didn't know better I'd say you were drunk."

"Emotionally drunk, maybe." she giggles. There's alcohol around here somewhere, who knows if he still likes it. That'll be something to have fun with later.

"So what about you?" he asks.

"Three years."

"And in all that time, there was never-"

"Nope. A certain Mickey Smith tried his hardest to hit on me but never got anywhere. What about you?"

"What makes you think I wouldn't be-"

"You thought I wasn't ever coming back. I was actively trying to. You didn't have much of a reason to stay celibate."

"It depends."

"And now the truth comes out. Alright, then, I'll bite. Depends _how_?"

"Astrid Peth. She died an hour after I met her."

"I-oh."

"I mean, she seemed nice enough-"

"Was she blonde?"

"I don't see how that's relevant-"

_"Answer the fucking question."_

"Fine. She was blonde.

"Hah. Knew it. You're hopeless."

"I know." he says, reaching over to peck her on the cheek. She closes her eyes and leans back into his chest.

"Pinch me." he mutters.

"Wha'?"

"Still working on the fact this is actually happening."

"It's happening, sweetie."

"No, don't do that. I don't like that."

"Yeah, neither do I. Don't know why I did that."

He picks up her hand and runs his thumb over the back, taking it all in, every last inch of her. "Hm." A tiny smile forms on his face, something wet clinging to the corner of his eyes. 

"What's wrong?" she asks suddenly. Rose has never been blind. It's one of the things he loves about her.

"I-I just-" He sighs and wipes his face off, and she curls in even tighter. 

"Are you crying?"

"Happy tears. That's weird, I've never done that before. It's some....human thing." 

"I-I know." A shudder passes through Rose's body. She's holding back her own. Trying to, at least.

"You think you change so much." she says. "Like every time you die there's no hope for anyone who knew you before. Really, in the end, you're the same Doctor. Just a different face and a different voice and a different set of banter, but no matter what new mask you're behind you manage to reel me in every time. You can't go back and change your own past, you can't change who you are."

"I just thought-"

"That because you changed we couldn't hold on? You may be a different person, but that doesn't invalidate our entire history. We're the stuff of legend, you and I. Speed bumps, not road blocks."

"It's like you've regenerated, too."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Two days ago you could barely convince yourself to come with me. Now you're trying to convince me I'm the same. If that isn't an about-face I don't know what is."

"I just realized that pretending I didn't like you was worthless."

"I think we've gone a bit past "if you like me". Not that I'm complaining, I'm just a bit worried about you."

"Alright, Doctor. You're the clever one, as you've proceeded to tell me at least three times in the past half-hour. Oh, I get it! You're not as rude this go-around, but your ego is as big as this ship. Go ahead. Tell me what the change was."

"The cafe. You fell back into it so easily."

"Fell into what?"

"I don't know, whatever you call that weird flirting thing we used to do. You didn't even realize you were doing it, hell, I hardly realized it. Then you figured it out and got startled, cause you weren't sure you wanted to move on yet. You didn't think you could ever be over the last version. I noticed you avoiding me until you got locked in the booth. Then you thought you were going to die and you know the wonders that does to people. The "you don't change" speech got written somewhere in there. But there's still-"

"I guess.... I got so scared when you changed, thought you might not even recognize you anymore. But all the time you were just sort of....sad, hiding behind that childish mask of yours because all I could see was you expecting me to leave. So I was hoping that if I could help you, maybe I'd see the rest of you. And...you're so much more than that. You're funny and egotistical and clever and kind and passionate. Yeah, you're different, but I love you anyways. You're still someone I can't live without."

" _Rose_."

"What?"

"You're fantastic, and no number of deaths is ever gonna change how much I need you."

"Quite right, too."

"That was revenge."

"Oh, _yes_."

She laughs, a silvery thing that sends shivers down his spine, and kisses him gently. There are still thin watery snails crawling down her face, dripping onto his face and gliding off. Happy tears. Humany wumany.

He wouldn't mind being human, if they cry like this all the time.

Rose drops her head to rest her forehead on her chest. "Don't go anywhere."

"They can't separate us, no matter how much they try." he mutters to himself. 

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Just something you said. A long time ago."

"Mmmkay."

Rose yawns spectacularly, and the Doctor realizes how little sleep they're both running on. Saving the world with a sonic screwdriver and a couple cups of coffee. It's not the first time they've done that one. Probably not the last.

He doesn't actually mention that sleep is probably a good idea, just stops talking and listens to her breathing, her warmth curled beside him, the steady thudding of her heartbeat in her ears.  

  
_Thanks, Wilf._ he says in a silent prayer. He's always been kind of unsure about things like that- which is funny, really. Traveling the universe as long he has, you think he'd have all the answers. Really, he just has a handful of answers and a fuckton of new questions. 

If there is somewhere, though, he hopes his friend hears.

....

There's a pounding in his ears, but it's identity is still a fuzzy, half-awake mystery.

"Go away." Rose yells in the general direction of the sound. 

"I gave you twelve, wake up." Donna yells from somewhere else. She must be knocking on the door.

"Fine." the Doctor grumbles. "Twenty minutes."

Rose rolls out of bed and through his fuzzy eyes he can see her trying to figure out exactly where her clothes have ended up.

"No...don't go..."he mumbles, reaching towards her. 

"You get out of bed." she says, leaning over to kiss him on the forehead before walking out the door. Christ, she dresses fast.

It takes him another ten minutes before he can wake up enough to get out of bed, and then he realizes how she managed to find her clothes that fast. That little shit.

He loves her for it.

Rose is leaning against the console downstairs, drinking a cup of coffee nonchalantly like she /didn't/ steal his shirt.

"Annndd here we see a wild Rose Tyler permanently staking her claim on the Doctor." jests Donna in her best "wildlife announcer" voice.

"Oi, you two, stop it. Don't we have planets to see?"

"You promised me Barcelona." says Rose.

"Sure. _And_?"

"And I'm not changin'."

He throws up his hands in a mock attempt at despair, then starts clicking the console.  Rose taps him on the shoulder. 

"Relax, I'm jokin'. I'll change as soon as we get there." she whispers.

The Doctor smiles and pulls the lever. Almost instantly the TARDIS reacts like a bucking horse, throwing them all sideways. 

"What's going on?" coughs Donna, but he can't see her through the wall of smoke.

"No,no,no don't do that!" It's like riding out a storm in a too-small boat, the TARDIS tossing them every which way. Rose is clinging to the console for dear life.

With one final jolt and rain of flames and sparks the TARDIS lands, sending them all flying backwards hundreds of feet. Donna closes her eyes all the way down the rabbit hole, and only opens them when she makes contact with water.

"Swimming pool! Oh, that'll wake you up."

"Why'd we crash?" asks Rose.

"No clue, but I'll tell you, it's a hell of a climb back up."

Rose clashes her teeth. "Better get going, then."

......

It's three in the morning. No one should be making noises in her garden at bloody three in the morning. 

Maybe it's kids, playing with firecrackers. No, that's not right. Too loud.

Amy sighs and forces herself to wake up. Her bed is still covered in papers- must have fallen asleep working again. She does that. It's annoying. 

She can't see anything out the window, so she grabs a torch and her mobile and walks out the door. 

"Hello?"

There's a box, a huge, dark blue box sitting on its side that has crashed in her garden. Her first instinct is to call the police, but considering it's got "police" written all over it, it seems a bit redundant.

"Anyone there? This isn't vey funny, you asshats! Are you in the bushes?"

A face pops over the edge of the box. 

"Hello!"

.....

The woman screams and jumps back, nearly dropping her torch.

"You alright?" he asks.

"You just startled me, that's all. Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. Hello! Rose, are you coming?"

She's a little bit behind him, muttering something about a bronze in gymnastics over and over again.  "Give me a bleeding' moment."

He perches on the edge of the fallen TARDIS like a bird and waits until she's within arm's reach, then grabs hold of her shoulders and pulls her up. The weight is unexpected, though, and they both go toppling off the edge and onto the ground, Rose landing on top of him. 

"Oh. Hello."

"Hello." she giggles. The woman behind them sighs and buries her face in her hands, muttering something about idiotic grade twelves.

"Oi! I'll have you know, I'm a mature adult! Stop looking at me like that, you can't be that old yourself."

"Doctor, Donna's gonna need some help."

"I'll get back to that, Rose, I'm handling things."

"Doesn't look like handling to me. There's another one in there? How big is that box?" the woman says.

"It's not- it's bigger on the inside."

"Uhuh. Why are you all wet?"

"Fell into the swimming pool."

"There's a swimming pool. In a box."

"Yes! Open your mind a little bit!"

"Yeah, okay. You've got five seconds to tell me why I shouldn't call the cops on you _right now_."

"Better do what she says." Rose quips. 

"Oi, you-" he waves his hands in frustration and turns back to the woman.  "Box falls out of sky, people fall out of box, and you come out to threaten us instead of calling the police from inside. Why? You're _curious_. You want to know how we got here because let's face it, it's a bit much for a grade twelve prank."

Donna comes heaving over the side of the TARDIS. "Doctor, you made me climb all the way up here, you are going to pay for this."

The woman is debating this, then charges forward and leaps on the edge of the TARDIS. "I want to see."

"No-don't-" Rose pulls her back from the edge just enough so she doesn't go over. Almost as soon as she can see, the woman leaps off and starts backing away.

"You weren't joking-it's really bigger on the inside- oh my God, it's _bigger on the inside."_

"Yes, it is. Why? Does it scare you?" asks the Doctor.

"No- that's-that's _brilliant_.Bigger on the inside, how do you do that? What am I talking about, you must be freezing, you're soaked. Come inside, you can warm up. And you owe me an explanation!"

"Of course. What's your name?"

"Amy. Amy Pond." Amy takes off, but Rose holds back a bit.

"Is it safe to leave the TARDIS like that?" she asks.

"Let her do her thing, she's rebuilding. Should be fine." The Doctor responds. 

"...okay then." 

"Sorry about the mess." announces Amy. "I'm not the neatest person...."

The house is covered in paper, everything from old news clippings to half-finished books. Stacks and stack of it everywhere. The Doctor is practically giddy.

"I like her!" he whispers to Rose. "Look at all these books!"

"Are we in Scotland?" Donna asks.

"What- oh, the accent. No, dear old Leadworth. Population, maybe six. On a good day. That's meant to be a joke, not a very funny one. Do you want tea?"

"Yes, please."

"So what is exactly that you do, Ms. Pond?" asks the Doctor, picking up one of the piles.

"Journalist. Just got out of uni, I do a lot of science pieces for the local paper. It's not much, but it's a job. So, Doctor. How can your box be bigger on the inside?"

"Relative dimensional technology. The inside is in another, connected dimension."

"You're jokin'."

"Do I look like the kind of person who jokes?"

"Yes." slips in Rose. He turns back and gives her one of those smiles that says "you're an ass but I love you anyways." That's starting to become their motto. She just smirks.

"But that's impossible." says Amy.

"Not for me." 

"Stop bragging!" Donna elbows him sharply. She's still pissed about being forced to climb the rope.

"How'd you get the box here? Did you crash?"

"Well, it's not a box. It's a ship. Best ship in the universe. We travel, sort of everywhere and anywhere. Don't know why we crashed, still working that out."

Amy is staring at him, tapping her fingers up and down on the armrest of her chair, thinking. He can see the wonder in her eyes the longer he talks. 

"Are you human?" she asks. This is sort of the pattern they follow, the potential companions. He'll have to ask, but Rose seems okay with it. Donna-that's a probably. When she's not so angry anymore.

"They are. I'm not."

"So you just pick up human strays?"

"We're not strays!" says Donna indignantly. "We're his friends."

"Girlfriend." corrects Rose. 

"Well, then there's that." says the Doctor.

"Grade twelve." sing-songs Amy under her breath. "So it's just an accident you're here?"

"Why? Were you expecting us?"

"Well...I thought it might have something to do with the crack in my wall."

The Doctor is practically squirming with excitement. "Show me."

Amy gets up and walks upstairs to her room. "It's been here since I moved here when I was little. Sometimes at night, there's a light coming from it, or I hear voices."

"Voices? What do they say?"

"Always the same thing." She flicks on the light and pulls away a tall dresser against a wall to reveal a v-shaped scar in the wall. "Prisoner zero has escaped."

"Prisoner zero? Who's prisoner zero?" says Donna.

"I dunno, but I'll tell you, this crack isn't a crack." Rose runs her hand along it. "I spent three years trying to rip open the universe. This a tear in reality, two parts of space and time that shouldn't be anywhere close pressed together so the resistance force cracks the universe. Can we force it open?"

The Doctor grabs his sonic out of his jacket. 

"Woah, I'm not sure that's a good idea-" starts Amy.

"Go for it." Donna says.

A faint buzz and the crack yawns wide, glowing faint blue on either side. 

"Hello?" asks Rose.

A huge eye appears in the gap, staring them all down. "Prisoner zero has escaped." it keeps repeating in a monotone.

"We get the message. Who are you? Who's Prisoner Zero?"

"Rose! The crack can't support staying open, it's gonna snap shut for good." says the Doctor.

"Alright, let it close."

The crack yawns wider, then snaps shut with a gust of wind.

"There we go!" grins the Doctor. "No more crack. No more voices."

"Prisoner zero has escaped. Why tell us? We're not the space cops." Donna is on to something. "We can do exactly jack, unless...it escaped through the crack. Into here."

"My house? No way. I would have noticed if an alien prisoner ended up in my house."

"Not necessarily. It could have come while you were asleep, or disguised, or invisible. Never underestimate a clever alien. But I should have seen it, I must have!  I missed it, what did I miss?"

"Doctor-"

"Shut up. thinking."

"Doctor!" snaps Donna. "Do you hear that?"

There's a loud clanging coming from outside, presumably the TARDIS.

"No, no, no! That's the cloyster bell, the engines are phasing, she's gonna burnnnn!"

"Doctor-wait-what about the alien in my house?"

"Five minutes!"

"You can't just leave me!"

"Five minutes, Pond, I promise."

The Doctor and his companions jump into the box, and disappears in a whirl of wind and a grinding scream of brakes. And Amy waits.

........

"Amy! Amy, I figured it out, you have to get out of there, AMY!" 

The Doctor practically charges out of the box- it's standing upright now. It's sometime in the afternoon, maybe two-ish. So much for five minutes. 

"Doctor-" chokes Rose. The TARDIS is full of smoke, the only option is to evacuate while she does her thing. Whatever her "thing" is.

"Come on, open up!" His sonic isn't working right. Just wonderful. It must have been damaged in the crash.

The door finally clicks and swings open. "AMY!"

"Doctor!" Rose shouts, then gives up and looks back at Donna.

"Rose, didn't we crush the shed when we got here?" Donna says.

"Yeah, I think so." 

"Well, then how is it rebuilt already? It's got a couple years on it, too."

"Oh, he really screwed up this time."

They follow him inside, sprinting up the stairs. 

"Doctor? Where'd you go?" yells Donna.

"Up here! Amy, Amy are you still here?"

And then she appears like a ghost, armed with a cricket bat, red hair hanging loose on her shoulders, armed, dangerous, andd generally pissed off. 

"Amy! Come along, we gotta go-"

"You're real."

"What? Of course I'm real. What makes you say that?"

"Oh, I don't know, I was starting to think I dreamed it all. Might be still dreaming now."

"I'm sorry, must be a couple hours late-oooooohh!"

The Doctor trails off into a whimper as she punches him straight in the jaw with her free hand. 

"Two years!" she snaps.

"What? No! I can't have!"

"You said five minutes, and then you disappeared for two years."

"Amy, I know you're mad, but I need you to calm down. Trust me. I figured it out, what I missed. How many rooms on this floor?"

"Five."

"Wrong." 

"There's six!" says Donna.

"No! I've lived here all my life, I would know-"

"Look out of the corner of your eye," says the Doctor,"where you never want to look, right behind you."

"Oh my god there's six."

"Told you. Low-level perception filter, kept you from noticing."

"I have an extra room that I never knew was there. I wonder what's in it?"

"No-Amy-"

"I'll go with her." adds Donna. 

"Please-don't-"

The door snaps shut behind them.

"What's in there, what do you see?" calls Rose.

"It's just kind of empty, a couple of boxes. There's no one here."

"No, it's not. Corner of your eye."

"Doctor." Amy sounds terrified. "Doctor, there's something in here."

"Don't let it know you've seen it, Donna, get her out of there!"

Amy screams and sprints out, Donna on her heels. 

"There was a snake-"

"Huge teeth, I mean _huge_. Hanging from the bloody roof!"

"All funny and ridged on the back-"

"Multiform." growled the Doctor, sealing the door with a click of his sonic. It took longer than it should have. This wasn't good, he couldn't lose his sonic and his TARDIS in one day. 

"Is that gonna stop it?"

"Oh, yeah, dimension-hopping multiform, they're _terrified_ of wood."

The edges of the door are glowing gold.

"What's happening?" asks Rose.

"It's changing, putting on a new face."

"Shouldn't we run?" says Amy warily.

"Why?" the other three say in unison.

"I dunno, creepy alien!"

"I want to ask it a couple of questions first. Run if you want." says the Doctor. Amy debates it for a second but stays put.

The door swings open and out walks a man and a rotweiler. 

"Oh, clever, a two in one! Bit of a rush job, though, you got the voices a bit wrong. Look, Rose, do you see, the dog's not growling, the man is. Why are you in such a hurry to change?"

"PRISONER ZERO WILL VACATE THE HUMAN RESIDENCE OR THE HUMAN RESIDENCE WILL BE INCINERATED." 

The voice shakes the floorboards with its volume. 

"Oh, that's it! They can't track you in that form, clever old Multiform. But you can't attack us, or they'll catch you. Right? Hopefully?" 

The beast snarls with both mouths at once, revealing sets of elongated shark's teeth.

"Run." gulps the Doctor.

....

"What about the TARDIS?" Donna argues as they walk into town.

"Still rebuilding, we can't get to her for another hour at least. Do you hear that?" says the Doctor.

"Hear what?"

He takes off and grabs the radio off an ice cream truck. "Listen."

"PRISONER ZERO WILL VACATE THE HUMAN RESIDENCE OR THE HUMAN RESIDENCE WILL BE INCINERATED. REPEAT: PRISONER ZERO WILL VACATE THE HUMAN RESIDENCE OR THE HUMAN RESIDENCE WILL BE INCINERATED."

"Why is it playing that?" asks Donna.

"I don't know." says the bewildered ice cream man. "It just started doing that."

The Doctor starts sonicing and it switches languages, but keeps playing the same message over and over again in German, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, and on to languages Donna doesn't even recognize. 

"Okay. It's not just here, it's everywhere. The human residence isn't just Amy's house, it's the planet earth. They're going to incinerate the planet."

"Oh, that's just wonderful!" Amy is more scared than she lets on. A good trait in a companion, not letting your fear get to you. Alternatively, just getting used to the end of the world.

There's a commotion from the square.

 "Oh, that's wonderful." growls the Doctor. "End of the world, and out comes the human race, recording it all on their phones."

"What are they even recording?"

"Sun's gone all wonky, don't you see? They dropped a forcefield onto the atmosphere so they don't burn anything else by accident."

"Alright." says Rose. "How long have we got?"

"Ehhh..." The Doctor starts doing the math in his head. "20 minutes? They'll stop if they find the Multiform, but they'll only be able to do that if he decloaks. And it's easy, he can just take another shape if we expose one. I need to find all the shapes he's taken- they'll be comatose, it takes a life feed, an alive but sleeping host to create a copy. So-"

"Doctor." hisses Rose, tugging on his arm. "The Sun's going' out, but that man is taking a picture of that man and his dog. Wait-actually, I think that's our mandog."

"Rose, you are _brilliant_! Hey, you, stop! Give me your phone."

"Umm...no." replies the man. 

"Rory, do as he says."

"You know him?" the Doctor asks Amy.

"Rory's-Rory's a friend."

"Fiancée." he corrects.

"Whatever."

"Grade twelve." coughs Rose under her breath,and Amy glares at her.

"Why do you want my phone?" Rory asks, and he still has no inclination to even consider handing it over.

"All these people taking pictures of the sun, and you're taking a picture of a man and his dog."

"Why is that-"

"Sun's going out, man and dog, why?"

"Cause he can't be there, he's-"

"In a coma?" Donna finishes.

"Yeah. That's really creepy, how did you know that?"

"She listens when I speak. Phone. Now."

Rory sighs and hands it over to the Doctor. On the camera roll are at least fifteen other people.

"Are these all coma patients that you saw out?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I need a laptop and a helper. Rose, with me, Donna, go take these two and evacuate the hospital. The Multiform needs to change it's shape again, it's been documented too many times, it'll go looking for another form and it may get snappy. Seventeen minutes, let's do this."

"You can use the laptop at my house." Amy tosses him her keys. "It should be safe now, right?"

"Yeah, thanks! Come along, Rose."

"Amy-who is he-"

"Just do what he says, come _on_ Rory!"

.....

"What are you doing?" Rose asks as he types away, playing with one of the articles on Amy's wall. There are an awful lot of ones by Sarah Jane here, she wonders if Amy is a fan. That's a meeting that can be easily arranged.

"Sun's gone all wonky, so somewhere, there's going to be a big meeting, all the international hotshots. I'm hacking in. Do you still have your Torchwood badge?"

"It's in my pockets somewhere, give me a minute. Is that why you wanted me? 'Cause I'm not much of a diplomat, at Torchwood we were more fond of aggressive negotiations."

"I know that, but they'll also have facial recognition software, and you have one of the weirdest records on the planet. What, haven't you died twice officially now or something?"

"I think it was just once."

"Anyways, combine that with the badge, you'll have more pull than I will. They won't have my new face in the UNIT database yet, so I won't get anywhere. And we are running! Come on, I need you to get them to trust me. Make up a good story."

"Found it." Rose grabs her badge in one hand and slides into the chair. "This is going to end badly, I'm telling you right now."

"No it won't, I have faith in you. Switching you to live...now."

"And who the hell are you?" snaps one of the six "hotshots." Some idiot from NATO. Oh boy.

"Seriously, fellas, is that the reaction I get? Rose Tyler, Torchwood Three." She holds the badge up to the camera just long enough so they can verify its authenticity but not long enough so they can figure out it's not from this universe. 

There's a pause. 

"What are they doing?" whispers the Doctor.

"Standard protocol, messaging Jack to confirm I'm who I say I am. He'll lie through his teeth, as usual. Don't worry."

"What makes you think we need Torchwood?" Another hotshot. NASA. Arrogant, the lot of them.

"Look at the sky. Think about it. They're multiverse space cops chasing a Multiform- shapeshifter, basically, and they're idiotic enough to cook us. Now, my scientific consultant has a plan, but only if you shut up and do exactly what he says. Understand?"

There are various murmurs of assent from the screen. She hands the laptop to the Doctor.

"Okay, so on this phone-"he holds up Rory's phone-"I'm writing a simple little computer virus. Why is it on a phone? I'll get to that. It's a resetter, gets into the wifi, resets anything with a counter, clocks, stock numbers, anything, back to zero. Don't worry, you can reverse it once I've saved the world. I'm sending it to all of you, distribute it in any way you can, email, Twitter, text, Facebook, anything. Get it  out there. It'll reset everything at  the same moment and send one big message- that Prisoner Zero is here. They're monitoring all earth communications, they'll notice, and track the source, which is this phone. I just have to get it to the Multiform before time runs out. Now sorry fellas, gotta go."

He slams the laptop shut and jumps out of his chair.

"You know we'll need a car." Rose cautions. "Can you even drive?"

"Well..."

"I take that back, I don't trust you to drive. We'll take Amy's and I'll drive. I assume her keys are on that ring too."

....

They pull up outside of the hospital, leaping out and sprinting through the doors. Rose pulls out her phone and speed-dials Donna. "Where are you?"

"Just getting to the coma ward, it was hell getting through. Everyone else should be out."

"We're coming up the stairs now. Whatever you do, keep the Multiform there."

She hangs up. "Dammit, door's locked."

"Are you forgetting-"

"Isn't it broken?"

"Not yet." It takes even longer to unlock the door then before. The screwdriver gives one final squeak and snaps in half in a cascade of sparks as soon as the job is done. "Well, now it is."

"Greaaaat. Donna!"

They turn the corner, and a woman is walking down with two little girls. "Help us." she says. "I think the nurses are dead, and Doctor Harrison, too. There was this animal-"

"Rose! Look at the mouths!"

Amy appears out of nowhere, pointing. 

"Oh, dear, I've got it wrong again." The woman's voice is coming from the little girl. _Multiform_.

"Nice catch."

"Thanks." Donna and Rory are right behind Amy.

"Nice try, Multiform!" the Doctor crows. Here it goes.

"I suppose this is the part where you gloat over how you're about to defeat me."

"Actually, I just did." He points at the electric clock on the wall. The numbers have reverted to zero. "All over the world, that's happening, a giant message that the space cops are going to notice: Prisoner Zero is here. And they'll track that message all the way back to this mobile phone."

"I'll just change forms again."

"No, and no. This phone has pictures of all your forms. Now tell me, who are your captors?"

"....I see I've lost. They are the Atraxi."

"Should've known, that's very them." says the Doctor. 

"So that crack you came from, how did you make it?" asks Rose. "I've seen plenty like it, made plenty like it, and it was an excellent job."

"I didn't make it. I only came through."

"Then who did?" asks the Doctor flatly.

"You don't know? The Doctor and the Wolf don't have a clue!" She singsongs the last sentence. 

"How do you know that name." Rose growls. 

"There are cracks everywhere, in time and space. You... _hear_ things, going through them. Things like the name of the Bad Wolf. The universe is ripping at its seams, Doctor. Silence _will_ fall.

A searchlight fixes on the nearest window and the Multiform slowly fades away, captured at last, Rory's phone going with it.The Doctor keeps a scowl frozen on his face. 

"Rose. Phone. Now."

She hands it over, a smirk forming on her face as he dials the number. Rose knows what he's about to do.

"Oi, did I say you could go? This planet is an established level 5, protected under article fifty-seven of the Shadow Proclamation, and you were going to burn it? Roof, ten minutes. We're going to have a chat."

He tosses the phone back at Rose, who hangs up, grinning wildly as she watches him straighten his bowtie. 

"Did he just save us, then call the aliens back?" says Rory with disbelief. 

"Yeah, he does that." 

....

The Atraxi ship looks like a crystallized spiderweb with a giant eye. Weird.

"Hello! The Doctor will see you now!"

The eye distends and scans over them all.

"Now you've been monitoring all Earth communications, reading up the history, so I've got a couple questions. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?"

A large viewscreen appears before the eye, all sorts of images flickering as it makes its decision. "No."

"Are the people of this world guilty of any crimes under the laws of the Atraxi?"

More images. "No."

"Final question. Is this world protected? Cause you're not the first, not at all. There have been so many others."

Rose watches as the images change to creatures of all kinds, some she knows, some she doesn't, and then to faces. The Doctor in all his forms, one by one, ending with the last on file. 

Her last Doctor.

Suddenly she can feel it again, her heart heavy, her wings broken. Allowing yourself to move on can help, but it doesn't fix everything. There will always be wounds. It's a struggle not to let it show, because everyone else is so _happy_ , no, she'll make a brave face for the rest of them. It's what she does. And maybe he'll see, her Doctor, but she doesn't care. Let him look. He's the only one who can help her anymore.

The current Doctor steps forward, breaking the hologram, that big cheese. Always going for the flashy stuff.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor. Basically....run."

......

"What have you got for me this time?" The Doctor gallops forward and giddily opens the TARDIS. "Oh, you sexy thing."

"Look at her, she's all modern, I love it!" says Rose.

Donna starts inspecting every last inch. "Hey, Amy, where's Rory?"

"He had to go back to the hospital and help clean up. Doctor, is it alright-is it alright if it's just me, if I come on my own? Don't get me wrong, I love Rory and I know he'd love it, but I think for just now, I want to go alone for a little bit."

"I haven't officially asked you, but yes, of course, Pond. We can get him later if we want." the Doctor replies.

"So where exactly does this ship go?" inquires Amy.

"Anywhere and everywhere." starts Rose.

"Any time, any place-" adds Donna.

"Anything that ever was or ever will be." finishes the Doctor. "We need to break her in first, since she just fixed, but that's just a quick trip to the moon. Then we can go anywhere you want. So, Amy Pond,-" 

He pulls down the lever and the sound of the TARDIS gears fill the room.

"-how about the universe?"

 


	5. Sun Hasn't Died

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S CALLED WRITER'S BLOCK AND I'M SORRY  
> im trying something new and if this seems wildly out of charecter to anyone i would gladly appreciate it if you told me.

"Porifel! Population six million, all colonists." The Doctor says, landing on a strategically placed chair as soon as the TARDIS  stops rumbling. "The planet is a giant sponge. Squishes every time you walk on it."

Amy giggles at the thought. "So why this planet, Doctor?"

"I don't know, just felt like it. Rose, are you coming?"

"Yeah. Let's go." She takes the stairs down two at a time, throwing her hair up into a bun as she walks. "Donna, you get the door."

Donna throws it open and steps out. "Doctor, I don't think we're on Porifel...."

"Sorry, Amy. She does this." mutters Rose before following Donna. "Woah, you weren't joking."

The sky is thick with dark gray clouds that could be ash or smoke, the ground patches of hardened black lava that shift under her feet. The heat bubbles up from the surface like that off a campfire, radiant warmth boiling the air. Even in fire, there is life: tall red rushes that crack out of the rock, tiny fiery flowers perched at their tips. Rose can't see anything other than the plants, but there has to be something. She can feel eyes on her, something lurking in the shadows.

"We could just go somewhere else..." suggests the Doctor.

"You're really asking that."

He laughs.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" Rose asks.

"Not a clue. But that's what makes it fun!"

"Damn right." agrees Donna.

It's not really a lava planet- maybe it was once, but most of the lava has cooled. All that remains are huge craters of boiling magma and the occasional puddle. There are a few volcanoes, but they seem far enough off to be harmless. The magma that is there is spitfire, roaring and bubbling like a fierce dragon. A little ways on from where they landed is a tiny town that at first sight appears to be rocks, but is really a series of tiny houses turned black by ash.

"Look!" Donna points it out first. "Wonder who lives there?"

"I dunno, but I'm wondering why. Who would want to live here?" says Amy with disbelief.

"People will surprise you, Amy. What seems like a wasteland to one race can be a paradise to another." says the Doctor.

As soon as the get to the main road, faces peep out of doors, and hiding back almost as quickly.

"Why is everything so quiet?" Rose asks. "I can get being afraid of us, but there was no sign of anyone before we got here. They're afraid of something, and I don't think it's us."

"You can come out, we won't bite!" announces the Doctor. Out of the darkness comes a black-skinned child in a deep red robe, blue streaks painted on her face, tiny horns peeking out of her hair.

"Are you the Rain Woman?" she asks.

"I'm afraid not. What's going on, why are you all so scared?"

There’s a long pause, and then a small handful of others step out of the shadows; adults and elders whose horns sweep to their shoulders. One takes the shoulder of the first child, staring them down. "The wolf is coming."

"The wolf? What wolf?" Rose asks, shivers reaching down her spine. Too many people these days, too many people that know that name.

"The dark one. Every time she comes, only death follows. If we see her, we will surely die."

"Are we talking like an actual wolf, or a person-"

"Eyes like fire and teeth that crunch. Come home quick or you'll be lunch." singsongs the little child eerily. "Mummy, can I go in?"

"Go ahead,dear."

The little girl runs off. Rose understands now; she was the bait in case the strangers didn't mean well.

"I think they truly don't know." says the eldest woman. "Come with me."

She beckons them with a stone finger into her tiny hut. "See, Amy?" exclaims the Doctor. "Even in the most hostile places, people live. More than that, they thrive."

"Doesn't seem much like thriving if they're scared to leave their houses."

"Well, details. Come on, what's this wolf?"

"A legend for centuries. We used to blame the volcano's eruptions on her. Then she became real, a specter that carries fire." says the woman, beckoning to a chair. "Always coming when we least expect it, and death follows her like a cloak. Within minutes the pits will boil over and burn us, or a child be carried away by one of the beasts of the sky, or the winds will carry the fires to us. Few have ever seen her and lived to tell the tale."

"But she hasn't actually killed anyone."

"Not directly, no. But the planet seems to be under her control, and that way a hundred and fifty have died."

"No wonder people are terrified." says Amy.

"And what about this Rain Woman? Who's she?"

"The Rain Woman was the protector of this world in legend, and then she became real. Like the wolf, she is not quite the legend. She's just a explorer who lives on the outer canyon and saves people from the wolf's curse on occasion. Her name's got something to do with water- Stream? Pond? No, that's not it. River, it's River!"

Donna and the Doctor share a glance.

"Kind of aggressive? Hair that defies gravity?" asks the Doctor too casually.

"That's her, why, do you know her?"

"Ehhhh...sort of....could you show me where she is?"

"I could show you the path, yes."

"How do you know her?" Rose grabs his arm and hisses. "Who is she?"

"She's someone from my future. Last time we met, she died."

"So we're going backwards on her timeline."

"It looks like it, yeah."

"How did you two meet?"

"It was in a library, biggest library in existence. We were fighting these little invisible piranha things called the Vashta Nerada. We had to shut down the core computer, and basically, she died doing it. But she kept acting like she knew me, actually, she called me there, on the psychic paper, and I'd never met her in my life."

"How'd she get you to trust her?"

"I didn't. Still don't. It was one of those situations where you just have to throw caution to the wind to stay alive.”

"Weird.” Rose pauses.

The path grows skinny here, passing between a pair of lava pits, a tiny patch of grass being the only thing separating them from becoming cooked.

"Do you hear that?" asks Rose.

"What?"

"Like...footsteps."

"Get down!" a voice orders, and out of instinct Rose drops, taking the Doctor with her. There's a bright, sudden flash of light, a whimper of an injured animal, and someone takes her hand and drags her from the rushes onto a patch of more stable ground. As soon as their feet touch safety the left pit roars, throwing magma where they had been instants before. Through the fire Rose can see a dark form limping away, a blackened wolf snarling in the light.

"Do I have to save you every time we meet?" snarls a new voice. It's a tan-skinned woman in a red dress, packing a interesting lasergun and hair that defies gravity.

"River!" says Donna excitedly. She seems to be the only person happy to see her.

"You didn't-"

"Relax, it's a water gun. Does you wonders on a lava planet." She scrutinizes the Doctor's face. "Oh, look at you. You're so young. Rose, Amy, I bet you haven't even met me yet."

"I really haven't, who are you?" says Amy.

"Professor River Song. Wow, I really have hit the history books. What is this, your first trip?"

"Sixth."

"Sixth! Well then."

"River, what are you doing here?" asks the Doctor quietly.

"What else? Place seemed interesting, thought I'd settle in for a bit, then this wolf starts terrorizing everyone and I become the "rain woman"."

"So you don't have a clue what's going on." says Donna.

"Oh, I've tried to figure it out, but anyone who gets too close to that wolf ends up dead. I don't know how, must be some form of time energy. She uses natural events to her advantage, maybe she's just accelerating when they happen..."

"Well, I don't like it." grumbles the Doctor. The wolf, always the wolf, and after what the multiform said...there is something coming,and Rose appears to be stuck in the middle of it. He can’t let that happen, not again.

"What's wrong with you? I thought you loved new things." asks Rose

"Not new things that kill people. You're not to go near it, any of you. River, you said it reacts to water?" Not a chance, he can’t take a single chance. Deep down he’s fascinated, he loves this fantastic new creature, but there are too many wolves running around to allow himself to be fascinated by it.

"Are you kidding? I think everything on this planet is on fire."

"I've got an idea."

"Does this idea involve killing it?"

"Rose, it's killed over a hundred."

"That's not what you've ever done, Doctor, what's gotten into you?"

"Protecting this world."

"Protecting?" Rose scoffs. "This is what you call protecting? How do you even know the wolf is responsible for these things?"

"Because-"

"Because River and the old woman told you so? They both said it doesn't kill directly. What if that stuff's just gonna happen anyway, and it's just warnin' these poor saps?"

"You don't know that."

"No, I don't, but I'm not about to go murdering a potential innocent either."

"It is not innocent!"

Rose stares at him with the eyes of a ghost. "What's gotten into you? Why are you so afraid of it? You used to love new things, not run and hide from them. You were fascinated, now you're just a-a soldier. You're scared to- oh, is that it then? I get the connection now. I'm not a bloody china doll!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The wolf is setting you off, I knew it! You're scared you'll lose me again. One wolf at the hands of another, it's the kind of irony the universe seems to adore. News flash: I'm not going anywhere."

"Rose, don't, it’s not what you think- listen to me! There have been too many wolves running around here, I’m trying not to risk it! River, help me with this."

“And so you do a complete about-face on your own personality. This is like watching a train wreck, Doctor, it’s like you’re forcing yourself to hate it. It’s not you! Can’t you see that? It’s not you.”

He doesn’t respond, because she’s right, and he can’t fight back against that.

Stop forcing yourself away from the wonder.

But how can I not? I have to keep her safe.

Rose waits for a second, then nods. “Ok. I see how it is. Amy, come on.”

" Where are we going? I assume you have a plan." Amy hisses.

"Sort of. I think I know where it went.

.....

"I'm not doing it."

"Donna, I need you to call her."

"Nope, not today."

"I need to make sure she hasn't gotten herself killed."

"She's pissed, and I can't say I'm not."

"What did I do to you?"

"She's right. You have changed, and not for the better."

.....

"Why are we back here?" says Amy.

"Shh! Keep your voice down."

"Sorry." Amy lowers herself into the grass like a cat.

"River said it might be manipulating time energy. Well, this is the biggest piece of time energy around."

Amy sinks even lower until Rose thinks all that red hair will become one with the grass. "Ookay."

Rose lowers onto her knees and watches the TARDIS. This is the basest of hunches, but she has to prove him wrong. She has to.

The universe isn't like that, when did he lose his wonder? Not everything means to kill. Most things are just fantastic.

What if it's my fault?

Maybe it is. He is scared to lose her again, and Rose can't blame him. The worst of the universe has always tried to pull them apart. Maybe after too many times he just stopped seeing the good.

You hardly know him anymore, you fool. It’s been years, years and a new body and barely a single story. Who knows what he’s been through.

Her phone rings. "Donna, what does he want?"

"And I quote, "get back here because I think the wolf is going for the TARDIS and it's not safe.""

"Well, that's exactly where I am, so he can shove it."

Pawsteps. She hears pawsteps, and the thrill of a hunter charges through her veins, accompanied by a chill. Something about the wolf is freezing her, awakening old memories she never wanted to see. Things in her head, just it of reach like an old nightmare,and she’s terrified the Doctor was right after all. Too many wolves in one place.

"It's here." she whispers, terrified. Amy has become one with the grass.

"Rose, get out of there, get out of there now." The Doctor has snatched the phone away from Donna.

"I-I'm not." Something old is setting her on fire, and she understands. "I know what I have to do."

"Rose-Rose!"

She lets the phone hit the ground with a clatter, watching the wolf pad into view. It's a creature of stone, eyes glowing with fire, perfectly suited for this volatile world.

"It's okay. I won't hurt you."

Those molten eyes have no emotion, she's just guessing now. Hopefully she's guessing right.

"I understand you. You don't want to hurt them, do you? You just want to warn them, but they never listen. All those people, and they hurt so much. You don't want them to hurt."

The wolf tips her head, and Rose gets the feeling she comprehends every word.

"It's just-the Doctor's scared of you. I was like you once, you know. The people hurt so much,and it's killing me. I just want to make it stop.He’s scared of what you are- what-what you’ll do to me, but I know it’s alright.. You can help them, I promise. Just let me help you."

She stretches out a hand to stroke the wolf's head kindly, but it leaves a searing burn on her hand and she shies back.

"I'm sorry." she whispers.

Then there is an old song in her ears, and a flash of something, and the squeak of time-damaged hinges...

......

"Rose! What did you do?" No, this can’t be good, the TARDIS doors are open, not this, not now- “ ROSE!”

She appears out of nowhere, cradling a burned hand, terror fading but also really, really pissed at him.

"I didn't open it, I swear-"

The Doctor pauses to look at the huddling mass, the once-wolf curled up in a ball on the ground, shivering with its alien eyes and staring at him accusingly. He’s not sure it can speak, but it wouldn’t be happy if it could.

"Don't you see? All she was was kind. The TARDIS has a weird way of depositing gifts. It only favors those who have pure hearts." Rose snaps.

"That Slitheen-"

"She was just protecting herself, that Slitheen doesn't count. But what would she think of you, Doctor? The man who would kill out of supposition? That doesn't strike me as someone she would like."

The last words sting worse than if she'd slapped him.

"Rose! I'm sorry!"

"Save it."

River kneels and cups a hand around the cheek of the strange new woman. "What's your name?"

"Lupa." The wolf-woman has a growl for a voice, rich and smoky, and a pair of searing golden eyes. Other than her eyes, she could be one of the natives.

"Lupa. You wanted to protect them. The land will need a new Rain Woman. It's about time I retired."

"It would be my honor."

River nods, and sighs to herself. "Rose, can I talk to you for a minute? Back at my place? Lupa, I need you to come so we can get you settled."

"...Alright."

.....

"He's seen me die, hasn't he."

"River, what do you mean?" Rose asks, playing with one of the trinkets on the table. River is digging deep in the closet, looking for something, and Lupa is outside watching the lava pits.

"It's why he was that way today, the Doctor and I are on reverse timelines, I'm sure he's mentioned it. And the way he looked at me when he saw me... last time he met me, I died. I know that look. However I died, he's trying to prevent anything like it from happening, maybe when I died he got too fascinated.” River stops. “But no, that’s not quite it. He does worry about you, you know... it hardly makes it excusable, but maybe it would help you understand.”

“Oh, I understand. Understand that he’s sleeping on the couch tonight.”

River smirks. “That’s the Rose I know. Do me a favor and fix him for me, will you? I hate watching you fight. He's so young, so new now, he shouldn’t be messing things up already. Guess this is goodbye, then. I knew it couldn't be long. I won't see him again until I die, and when that happens he won't recognize me. It's my curse."

"Curse? How can you be cursed?"

"The TARDIS cursed me. I misused her."

"You're not making sense."

"The point is, it's a long way in his future, and I hope to God that history gets changed and you never-"

"I never what?"

"Never mind I said anything. Spoilers."

River has found what she's looking for, a small wooden box about 6 inches long and 4 inches deep,covered in vulgar graffiti that's been painted over with a thin, mostly transparent layer of gold paint. On the lid someone's sharpied the words "not funny, owen" in a handwriting that looks vaguely familiar to Rose. River clicks it open with a smile and a light shake of her head.

"What's in there?"

"Vortex manipulator. Borrowed it off a friend- well, I say borrowed, he's not in any state to use it anymore. The Doctor's so shallow, he only touches the surface of a planet. I settle down for a couple months, really get the full experience, so my equipment doesn't need to be as fancy."

"Where are you going next?"

"Who knows? I'm a professor, officially. Maybe a library. Tell the Doctor I said goodbye, won't you? He's too nervous of me at this point. I suppose he's got a good reason, doesn't trust me yet."

"Goodbye, Professor Song."

"All my best to long ago."

And then she's gone.


	6. In Which River Goes Counselor

 

“Are you sure you got her number right?” whispers Amy, hanging out of the TARDIS and into the other world.

“Yes, I’m sure, she just texted me back. She’ll be here..any second now.” hisses Donna.

“I hate just waiting.”

“Well, what else are we gonna do?” Donna glances inside the TARDIS, glad the squabbling will hide all the noise they’re making. “I can’t put up with this anymore.”

“Two more minutes.” says Amy, checking her watch. “Then we go.”

About thirty seconds later, a woman appears in a small starburst of light, phone in one hand, puzzled look on her face. Donna lets out a sigh of relief, while Amy waves her on frantically.

“Are you two coming?” shouts the Doctor, and Donna jumps in to distract him while Amy sneaks River inside.

“Yeah, just had to-” Donna struggles for an excuse. “-check something out.”

He doesn’t say anything, only jolts the TARDIS into a mode she knows well, orbiting some planet somewhere. “It’s getting late, I’m going to bed.”

Donna waits until both the Doctor and Rose have left, a good three minutes apart, then pulls Amy and River out of their hiding spot in the bottom of the console room.

“So why did the ginger gang call me here?” River sighs.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

She glances up at the stairs. “Bloody hell, I’m back in time if you two are having this issue...are they fighting?”

Amy nods. “We’ve only met once before, in case you’re wondering.”

 _“Wow_. Ok, I got this. I’m glad you two called me, I know just what to do. Just one question?”

“Yeah,anything.”

“Can I crash on your couch?”

Amy snickers. “I think the Doctor’s got that spot claimed, but go ahead.”

River’s eyes widen. “That bad, eh? I was hoping this one wouldn’t fall on me. That’s me, River Song, always cleaning up that idiot’s messes.” She climbs up the stairs like she owns them and disappears, probably to a room of her own somewhere. Amy just shrugs and goes to bed herself. It’s been a long day.

 

Amy is awoken by footsteps a few hours later, but River only pokes her head in her room and shushes her before continuing on downstairs. There’s a loud grinding noise and her room shakes a bit as the TARDIS shifts- loudly as possible, but five quid says that’s intentional- but she just throws a pillow over her face and listens as the Doctor comes charging out of one of the spare rooms down the hall shouting things about _it’s not supposed to do that_! There’s a second pair out of another room that must be Rose not far behind, she too reacting instinctively to the occurrences. Amy just waits for all to get quiet, then goes back to sleep, confident that River’s handled it.

 

Down below, River hides in a corner as soon as she’s thrown the switches, waiting on the Doctor to crash down the stairs awkwardly, miraculously not falling into anything important.

“What the hell?” mumbles Rose, stumbling down after him. “Who turned her on?”

“I don’t know, she’s not supposed to do that, don’t do this to me!” The Doctor shouts more at the TARDIS than anything else before watching it stop irritatedly and slamming his hands into the controls. “I can’t control her, she’s locked me out!”

“Well, where’d she put us?” Rose rolls her eyes and opens the door, a blast of wind blowing her hair back. “Oh, you are kidding me.”

“What? Where are we?” He follows her out the doors, and River leaps from her hiding place to close off the doors. The Doctor turns around as soon as he hears the ancient creak, and River leans out with a smirk.

“Back in bit!” she grins, then deactivates her block on the TARDIS controls with a flick of her sonic. The Doctor races forward, but it’s too late, the box has faded as a ghost, and it’s just the two of them.

Alone.

River’s got a sick sense of humor.

“I’m gonna kill her!” snaps Rose, sinking down into the sand and wrapping her arms around herself in protection from the icy wind. “One place in the universe I never wanted to see again.”

“Relax, this is Earth Norway. Not...whatever we’re calling the other universe.”

“Same beach.” Rose cracks. “This isn’t funny!”

The Doctor sits beside her on the damp sand, reaching out a hand, but she doesn’t take it. “I’ll talk to her, I don’t think she realized-”

“Like that’ll do any good, we’re stuck here for as long as she feels like. I just hope she’s better at landing than you are.”

“My landing is fine!”

“Hate to tell you, mate, but you _suck_ at landing.”

“Shut up.”

Rose’s teeth are chattering, but she tucks deeper into herself, trying to ignore the aching feeling in her chest.

“Are you cold?”

“I’m fine. We should probably get out of here.’ Rose tucks her windblown hair behind her ears, stands up, and soldiers on, marching up the beach towards the rocks. “There’s a village about twenty miles out, we might make it before nightfall.”

“Rose, wait!”

She stops and stares at him, one hand ready to scale the cliffs out and over. “What?”

“I-” He wants to tell her don’t go, but he knows how much she hates this place. He’s not exactly a fan either, to be honest.

He just doesn’t want to watch her walk away again.

“Nevermind.” he says, then walks over to her side of the cliffs. “I’m coming.”

..........

  
  


Mornings are a disgusting thing.

Amy is half-asleep on the couch in the corner of the console room, cup of tea precariously balanced on the armrest so she can write properly. Her journals have a habit of appearing out of nowhere whenever she wants them, and Amy suspects the TARDIS has them catalogued somewhere so they don't clog up her room like they do at home. It's atrocious, the state of the house she lives in, stacked far too high with stuff. Rory's neat-freak side is going to trash half that stuff after the wedding. It's one of the things she's resigned herself to losing, she doesn't know what half of it was intended for anyways, maybe some forgotten research project or work on an article. Donna's even more of a wreck- she was half awake when she came down, but now she's sitting with her back to the couch, dozed off completely. Her cup is going cold on the ground. She didn't even stay awake long enough to start it. The two of them are like best friends at a sleepover,sharing blankets and trying desperately to stay awake.

The door to the TARDIS interior creaks open, and River charges down the stairs, wide awake. “What’s going on?"

"TARDIS  woke us up."Amy mutters. "Turn the lights off."

"I tried. She won't let me."

"You and this bloody ship, thinking five am is a golden time to wake up."

"She's not my ship, or the Doctor’s, really.” sighs River. "She just kind of lets us tag along, she does her own thing."

“Of course.”

"Amy, how are you even functioning?" River inquires.Donna’s out cold, but she seems mostly ok.

" You get very familiar with the term " all-nighter" in my line of work." she says, not really paying attention to her."Why'd she wake us up?"

“Do you think I know? I can just fly her, can’t do much more than that. Did she speak to you?”

"Nah, she just dropped my room temperature down to zero, there were no voices in my head." contributes Amy. "Donna was out about two seconds after she came down, I don’t know what it did to her."

"Who made the tea?"

"I did." says Amy.

River steals a sip out of Donna’s untouched cup, then starts tapping things on the TARDIS, sending it off off with a shiver that shakes Donna awake. Amy doesn't even seem to notice, only steadying her tea with one hand so it doesn't go anywhere.

"What was all that about?" says Donna. "Your ship is not an alarm clock!"

"Seriously, she ever done that before?" asks Amy.

“Not that I know of.”

“Where are we?

"We could check, or..."

"Just go? Donna nods and makes for the door.

"Waiiit." says Amy. "You're just going out there? Like that?"

"So?" say River and Donna in unison.

"Well- we could be anywhere! Or anytime! You'll mess up timelines if you just wear street clothes."

“Who cares? No one notices anyways.”

"We're all mysterious and shit." adds Donna.

Amy looks skeptical.

"Trust her.” says Donna. “She’s just mysterious enough to be perfectly experienced with time travel.”

River cracks her head back and laughs, then darts out the door. Donna and Amy follow a bit more slowly, but moving all the same.

 

"We're in bloody London?" says Donna, voice dripping with the usual sarcasm. "All that, and we're in bloody London?"

 

The Tower of London looms over them, it's all-too-familiar-sight making it seem as if they haven't moved at all. It can't be modern-day, though; there's no steady stream of tourists rambling in and out and no loud-voiced beefeaters announcing who died where and what ugy entrails hung from which wall. No, the only guards are the two guarding the gate behind them, stoic faces scoping out every passerby as if they are guilty of something.

"Yeah, never know what the TARDIS is gonna do."River watches the empty gate, wind seemingly unaffecting her bouncy hair.. "Mid-sixteenth century?"

"You know, I've never actually been here." remarks Amy.

"Well, that's a shock."  snorts Donna. "I always thought it was one of those things that every British schoolchild was required to see."

“Back inside or onwards?” asks River.

“Onwards,of course. Who wants to go back in the TARDIS?” says Amy,and charges on.

They stroll down the main encampment, skies their infamous gray, clouds holding rain in their bellies. The wind is unnaturally cold, it's probably sometime in winter. Just their luck. Winter rain is always the worst kind.

"Halt! Who goes there?" A red-festooned guard stops them,hat bobbing ferociously.

“Oh, hello, sweetie. River Song.”

“I know of no-”

River lunges forward and kisses his cheek, to which the guard stumbles back and mumbles a dazed something about passing on.

“Hallucogenic lipstick.” she says with a smirk. “Does wonders.”

“You are awesome.” says Donna in awe. River just winks.

  
  
  


"Hang on, what day is it?" Amy asks.

"Umm..February 11, 1553.”  River says with a flip of her wristband.”I feel like that’s significant...”

“Knowing the TARDIS, it probably is.”snorts Donna.

"Want to find out who's locked up?"

"Oh,yes."

They creep over to the door, which Amy picks with her hairpin("It doesn't do wood!" “Just like the Doctor’s, huh?” “shuddup”), and creep inside. It's dark in the tower, with guards patrolling past every few minutes. Most of the cells are empty and unguarded- there are no normal prisoners here. One, though, is flanked by a pair, who River just winks at. “Now, boys-”

“Go ahead,miss.”

“How is she doing that?” hisses Amy.

“Men in this century can be pigs. Easy to take advantage of if you bat your eyes at them.” River says with a smile. “They think we’re all pretty and harmless.”

Donna has to really contain her laughter at that one. They’re many things,but harmless isn’t one of them.

Crouched in the corner is a young woman of maybe sixteen or seventeen, her once noble dress tattered and muddy, brown hair scattered across her shoulders in dirty chunks. Her hazel eyes have the remnants of something bright and curious in them, but they've gone dull and lifeless from imprisonment.

She looks up as they enter, assessing them cleanly with one swoop of her gaze. Amy feels like she can see everything about her, staring him down like an hungry owl.

"You're not right." she announces. "People don't dress like that around here."

"Told you." says Amy triumphantly.

“Oh, shut up.” replies River. “It usually takes someone really clever to notice.”

The strange girl keeps watching and tilting her head. "Who are you? Are you coming to rescue me, because somehow I doubt that."

“My name is River Song, and these are my friends Donna and Amelia. We’ve come to help you.”

“Amelia? It’s Amy.”

“You were the one who complained about historical accuracy, no one goes by Amy in this century.”

“River Song sounds like a name out of a fairytale.” says the girl. “You can’t be real. Have I really gone mad? Father Frederic says I have.”

"Why would people think you're insane? Is that why you're locked up here?"

"Oh no, the reason I'm here cannot be helped. No, it's because I keep seeing things, things that can't possibly be real. At first I thought it was my own mind, but then I caught one, and science dictates it must be real. Unfortunately, it got away."

"What's your name?"

"Lady Jane Grey."

The name sounds vaguely familiar to Rose, something the tour guide said all those years ago.

"She was Queen for nine days." whispers Amy in her ear excitedly.. "Then her cousins reclaimed the throne and sentenced her to die because 'she only claimed to be queen.'"

"Jane, what is it? What did you find?”

An odd smile breaks onto her face. "Finally, someone who takes me seriously." She gets up and walks around the room, holding her skirts off the floor with some remnant of dignity. "

"They're always coming out of here." she says, pointing to a hole in the wall. "Little rats, except they're not rats at all. They've got no tail, and they appear to be made out of living water."

"Living water?"

"Their scales are made of ice and their bodies slosh like buckets when they move."

"And sometimes," Jane continues, " when it's late at night, I think the guards are made of the same stuff. During the day they look human enough, but at night they become these...things. I wonder...."

She sticks her hand down the hole, but nothing seems enticed by it. "It's too early." she mutters. "They only come out after eight, I can hear the clock in here."

“I can handle that.” says Donna, and stares down the hole. “Oi! Pipsqueak! Whatcha gonna do, come freeze me to death?”

“What is she doing?” asks Amy.

“What she does best.” chuckles River. “Shouting at the universe and waiting for it to fight back. You’d be surprised how much it works.”

“And....gotcha!” Donna pulls back with an ugly little beast in her hands. “That is one ugly alien.”

“It’s an Ice Warrior larvae,” River identifies quickly, “Too small to be harmless.”

“It’s awesome.” Jane has a look of complete fascination on her face.

“But when there’s a little one, there’s a bigger one, right?” says Amy. “First rule of biology?”

“The guards-in the hall- do you think-” Jane starts eagerly.

“Maybe. I’ve never seen one out of it’s shell before.” River straightens back up and flips her lasergun Han-Solo style. “Who wants to go alien hunting?”

  
  


...........

 

“Will you stop doing that?”

Rose turns around and tucks her hair out of her face again, it’s infuriating how she keeps up with those little habits. So material, reminding him over and over again how badly he’s fucked this one up. “Stop what?”

“That. Ignoring me. Because obviously, that’s not getting us anywhere.” He waves his hands frustratedly at the sky. “Look. I get it was a bad location choice. Terrible location,choice. Really. Why does this keep happening to us?”

“Wait, did you plan this? What do you mean, “why does this keep happening to us?”!”

“No, of course I didn’t plan it! Donna probably did. And I meant this: you,me, the beach,general indecisiveness and bad situations. It seems to be a common theme.”

“Yeah, all we’re missing is for you to disappear again!” Rose’s voices snaps. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“I know you didn’t.” He places a hand on her shoulder with a little bit of a sad smile. “Let’s just find that village,okay?”

She doesn’t shake him off.

..........

 

“So where did you send them?” Amy asks. “The Doctor and Rose.”

“Oh, some place they can work out their squabbles. Away from here.” River stops in the dark hallway and starts inspecting a wall. “There’s something not right about this...”

“There.” Jane points at a crack that looks just the same as all the others to Amy; she must see something they don’t. “It’s perfectly symmetrical, cracks don’t just happen like that.”

 _“Brilliant!_ ” River says with a wide smile, before pulling out her sonic. The crack glows for a brief second, and then a whole portion of the wall rolls back. “You’re very intelligent, Jane.”

“Thank you, mam.” Jane flutters.

“Stop it.” Donna mutters.

“Calm down, I’m not Jack.”

“So where is this place?” Amy keeps prodding. “Obviously you know the Doctor’s secrets a lot better than I do.”

“Of course I do, he’s my best friend. Sorry, shouldn’t have said that. And no offense meant to you, Donna.”

Donna just keeps her miffed expression.

“It was a beach,” River finshes, “he always joked about beaches, and how he kept ending up on them.”

Donna suddenly looks like she’s about to explode. “River, what were you thinking- which beach.”

“I dunno, somewhere in Norway.”

“You absolutely fucking idiot, if there is one place you never take Rose Tyler, or the Doctor for that matter, it’s that beach in Norway. Hell, you’ve probably made things worse! And you call yourself his best friend. Mate, I know more about him than you probably ever will.”

“Could you-could you not-ice warriors?” Jane tries vainly.

“Well then, we’ll just have to go get them as soon as possible. First of all, potential end of the world, eh?”

“Oi, don’t get so dramatic with me, _spacegirl.”_

“Donna! River! Stop it!” Amy shouts. “Ice warriors first, cleaning up messes later. I’m sure it was an accident. Got it?”

They both nod quietly and keep following the tunnel.

...............

“It’s November 21st, 1993. Guess River wanted us to take the scenic route.” The Doctor says, folding up the stolen paper and setting it on the bench beside him. “Are you going to keep moping?”

“Says the man with the droopy bowtie. Why are you so bleedin’ cheery?”

“I’m not,” he sighs, “I’m just pretending to be so we can get along for more than two seconds.”

“Alright, Mr. Bleeding Heart. “ Rose sighs. “Could you be anymore obvious about it?”

“About what?”

“How hopeless you are without me.” She takes off to who knows where, running into the crowd maybe just to get away.

“Rose.”

No response.

“ROSE.”

She turns her head for a second, barely glancing at him, then keeps going.

Follow her.

He disappears into the crowd behind her, two specters among all these solid people, time’s little ghosts flitting around and angsting at each other. Rose doesn't seem to be trying to avoid him at all; she just accepts that he’s not leaving and keeps going until he can’t see her anymore.

_You are hopeless without her, that’s why you have to be careful, why can’t she understand-_

He stands there with his hands in his pockets for a moment, looking lost and confused, before going back to the bench where they started and waiting, just waiting for her to show up again.

He’ll wait as long as he has to for her.

..................

“Seriously, why are creepy monsters always in caves?” sighs Amy. “Wouldn’t it kill them to plot in like, Tahiti or something?”

“Where’s Tahiti?” Jane asks inquistivley.

“Sunny island in the South Pacific.”

“Sunlight would melt a creature made of ice, right? I’ve never heard of this Tahiti. Who are you that you know things a former queen does not?”

“You wouldn’t get it.”

“Try me.”

“No,really. It’s kind of confusing.”

“Are you from another time? It’s the only explanation for your strangeness. No king or queen would waste time on such a charade for a prisoner.”

“Wow, she’s good. And I don’t think-would they melt?”

“No, their armor would protect them.” says River,also quite impressed. “You have quite the open mind, Jane.”

“I think the correct response is I’ve gone mad.”

River stops dead to say something, but her flashlight starts flickering,  and she turns to face her companions. “There’s something close to-”

She’s cut off by a hand closing over her mouth,flashlight breaking on the ground as it drags it her into the dark. “River!” Amy shrieks, and Donna tries to give chase,but it’s so dark she can’t see where she puts her feet. Jane grabs a handful of straw off the floor in one hand and the torch in the other, stripping the broken head off it but not turning it off, watching the incomplete head spark. She lights the handful with the sparks, firelight giving the tunnel life again.

“Brilliant!” somebody shouts, and Amy wonders how Jane ended up so bloody smart. She hardly knew what electricity was and yet she didn’t ask questions, didn’t call it magic, just observed and went with it.

River’s footpaths are clear in the tunnel, and they race until the straw starts to scald Jane’s hand and a water-like figure looms out of the dark, decked in a guard’s uniform but still flammable. Jane chucks her firebomb and it becomes a very wet spot on the floor, River soaked but just fine.

“I think I get it now. Oh, and thanks.” River says. “The adults aren’t shelled because they’re not full adults, just nannies for the larvae. They needed a safe place to raise their young.”

“But why the Tower of London?”

“Still working on that bit.”

Amy starts looking at the walls, closely this time, and she can see it, how the perfect shapes of the bricks are too perfect. “They’re eggs, all of them.”

River nods. “The ship has to be close.’

“We might be already in it.” suggests Donna. “The floor’s gone metal,look.”

“Warriors from across the sea?” says Jane, confused. “I thought they were just a new race from the Americas. How can we be a ship if we’re not moving?”

“Not that kind of ship, a different one. One meant to traverse the stars.”

“People from another world? That’s-”

“impossible?”

“-just as cool as people from another time. I’ve really gone mad, absolutely insane!”

“This ship is damaged.” River says, tapping on the egg-walls. “They can only make short jumps, they’re stuck here. Bad timing, there’s no one smart enough to fix it yet. Can’t you hear the engine?”

“Nope?” Donna says, confused.

“Exactly. They’re running on electric emergency power. ET can’t fly home.”

“But why the Tower of London?”Amy repeats. “They can’t go very far, they’re trying to get off world again...”

“Maybe they wanted something.”

“Or someone.” Donna stares at Jane,and Amy gets is. She’s a genius, lightyears beyond her time, not even flinching when time travelers and aliens break down her door.

And she’s supposed to die. Amy can’t remember when, but she knows the time is soon.

River realizes it in the same instant, looks at Amy.

“The Doctor wouldn’t do it.” Amy says. “He wouldn’t want the Ice Warriors to die here, but rearranging timelines- he’d just fix the ship.”

“I know he would, and I’ll do that too.  Bu to hell with the Doctor and his timelines. “ she replies. “I’m not him, and I say “not today””

........

He waits and waits, but Rose never comes.

It’s a time before he realizes that she’s no longer in town, and so he rises, almost like in a dream, and walks back to that beach. She sits there, knees pulled tight against her chest, watching the waves tug endlessly at the sand.

“I’m sorry.” he says, sitting beside her in the sand. She doesn’t respond, just sits there tight-lipped, and he can swear she’s been crying. “I know...I know I haven’t exactly been the most trusting person lately. I just got scared, you have to understand.”

Nothing.

“Rose-” He stops. If she wants to stay quiet, then ok.

“I know.”

The Doctor looks up. “You know what?”

“I know you got scared, I know why you did those things. I don’t need an explanation. I just need you to see. Doctor, I’ve been with you for what, four years now? How many times in those four years has the universe shoved us here?”

He laughs bitterly. “Too many.”

“So this is me,” Rose announces, “telling the universe to go hang..  I’ve had enough of this, of being scared to lose each other, of bloody fightin’ over it, which by the way, was ridiculous.  Whatever happens, happens, which means nothing is gonna happen at all. I meant forever, and forever is what is going to happen.”

He draws an arm around her, but she doesn't push away, only leans into him. “I love you.” she says.

“Too much for my own good. And Rose Tyler, I-”

He pushes her hair back himself this time so he can kiss her, good and proper. “I love you too.”

There’s a exceptionally annoying gust of wind as the TARDIS rematerializes behind them, and Rose turns back to shout at it. “River, you’re a dead woman!”

Donna leans out with a smirk. “Oh, trust me, she knows.”

“Good for you, Donna Noble. Did she genuinely not know-”

“Yeah, she didn’t have a clue. Good intentions gone lousy. Get inside, you two must be freezing.”

Rose closes the doors at lightning speed once they’re both in. “Where’s she gone?”

“Oh, you know-” Donna stares shiftily at Amy- “ _places._ Victorian London, I think. Helping out a friend.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the excuse of the week for not updating is ap tests. i've probably used that before. let's just be honest, i'm pretty lazy.  
> i plan on writing a coda after maybe chapter 10 on what happens to all our one-offs.


End file.
